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by Terra Ziporyn  For years, many of us assumed that if we simply presented the science on adolescent sleep, school leaders would naturally shift to healthier start times. After all, the evidence is overwhelming: later start times improve sleep health, mental health and emotional well-being, safety, and school performance. But evidence alone has never been enough—and that’s the part we too often missed. School schedules aren’t set by people who wake up thinking about circadian rhythms. They’re set by people juggling budgets, transportation contracts, staffing, sports, community politics, and the fear—often justified—of public backlash. Their resistance isn’t about not understanding the science. It’s about competing priorities, risk, and self‑interest. The turning point comes when we stop trying to change those interests and instead learn to align with them. When later start times become a solution to the problems decisionmakers already care about—attendance, graduation rates, equity, safety, even economic outcomes—doors open. And when communities understand what’s at stake for their own kids, political will follows. Healthy school hours aren’t just a sleep issue. They’re a systems issue involving a multitude of stakeholders with differing priorities. And when we frame them that way, without losing slight of the science, we create the conditions for real, lasting change. Read the full article here: 👉 A Matter of Interest https://terraziporyn.substack.com/p/a-matter-of-interest Terra Ziporyn is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Start School Later.
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