The undersigned Health Professional Organizations collectively express our support for later school start times for teenagers. The research on this topic is concrete and indisputable. The objective of this statement is to support school leaders in adjusting school start times in order to allow teenagers to obtain adequate sleep.
The goals are:
- Middle and High schools start at 8:30 am or later
- This change is made by the 2018-2019 school year
These goals should allow for the time it will take for the necessary organization and consensus building within communities to reach a point of readiness to change for the physical health, mental health and safety of our teenagers.
| Minnesota Sleep Society
Jagdeep Bijwadia, MD – President |
Minnesota Medical Association
Robert K. Meiches, MD – Chief Executive Officer |
| Minnesota Nurse Practitioners
Dianne Willer-Sly, DNP, APRN, CNP – President |
Minnesota School Psychologist Association
Sally Baas, Ed.D – President |
| Minnesota Physician Assistants
Becky Ness, PA-C – President |
School Nurses Organization of MN
Susan Nokleby, RN – President |
| NAMI Minnesota (National Alliance on Mental Illness)
Sue Abderholden, MPH – Executive Director |