Philadelphia Schools Announce Later Start Times, Will Jersey Schools Follow?

Philadelphia's public high school's just announced some major changes that will affect nearly 40,000 students across the city. But we're wondering: could New Jersey be next?

The district's high schools will now start their day much later than they currently do... with a 9 am start time, 6 ABC reports. 

The changes will take effect at the start of the 2022-2023 school year this upcoming fall. The average school day starts at 7:30 right now, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

The school day for the affected schools will now end at 4 pm, which is pretty late.

"Research shows that later start times for high school students enable them to arrive at school more alert and ready to learn," the district said in a statement Thursday.

The Philadelphia School District also cited growing transportation issues in the city as they struggle to provide transpiration to all students.

The teacher's union issued a statement opposing the changes, according to reporting from 6 ABC.

Will New Jersey's Schools Start Later?

So could this come to New Jersey's high schools? Well, medical professionals seem to think it's possible.

"A growing body of evidence shows that delaying school start times positively impacts student achievement, health, and safety," the American Academy of Sleep Medicine says.

In fact, they call on educational institutions "to implement start times of 8:30 AM or later for middle schools and high schools to ensure that every student arrives at school healthy, awake, alert, and ready to learn."

So it could happen in Jersey. As of this moment, however, it would likely be up to individual school districts.

Though, some schools have already made such decisions — including Ridgewood Public Schools.

We'll see what happens, I guess.