I’ve written about the grass-roots beginnings of the Start School Later group, compared our county to others around the country that are enjoying the benefits of a later start time, and shared the comments from high school students who are struggling to find a healthy sleep schedule when their first class begins before any other high schools in Maryland.
The latest news is that our neighbors to the west in Montgomery County are calling for a later school start time with a huge petition that has gained well over 6000 signatures in just over a week!
A psychologist in Garrett Park, MD, rallied her fellow parents and they decided
to become a chapter of Start School Later. With our help, they compiled all the current research, wrote a petition on SignOn.org and immediately caught the attention of local media. Soon, they will be taking their request to Montgomery County School Board with the power of thousands of supporters behind
them.
I have to confess to being in awe.
We have recently moved our Anne Arundel County petition over to the free SignOn.org hosting service – and because they’ve seen the explosion of signatures on the Montgomery County petition, they are already promoting our brand new petition! With that momentum, we can build ours just as quickly as Montgomery can – with your help.
SignOn.org - Set 8 a.m. as the earliest opening class time for Anne Arundel County Public Schools
Please sign this new petition today and let’s get the attention of Dr. Kevin Maxwell at AACPS and the members of the School Board who hold decision-making power over the start time of our schools right here at home. Sending the petition to your network via email is the best way to grow it. Post it on Facebook, Tweet it, talk
about it.
The kids of our community deserve our commitment to their health, well-being, safety and quality education and we need a school schedule that’s in sync with adolescent and young adult sleep needs. This needs to be an AACPS priority now.
Visit www.startschoollater.net for more information and to join us.
