Welcome to Start School Later Maine!

• In 2014 The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement that high schools and middle schools should start no earlier than 8:30am. 
• But the majority of Maine schools start in the 7:00 o'clock hour.
• ​In August of 2015, The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention released disturbing findings: Nationally 2 out of 3 high school students fail to get sufficient sleep.  
• In April of 2016, the towns of Biddeford, Saco, Dayton and Old Orchard Beach became the first schools in the state to comply with the AAP and CDC 8:30 AM recommendation.

The healthy, safety, and equity benefits to starting middle and high school at times more in sync with the sleep needs of students are irrefutable. Benefits include: 

• Improved academic performance that may be twice as great in disadvantaged students
• Reduced depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors
• Improved athletic performance
• Reduced risk of obesity, eating disorders, and diabetes

• Reduced risk of stimulant and other substance abuse, and high-risk health behaviors especially during early unsupervised hours in the afternoon.
• Reduced delinquency
• Fewer car crashes and better psychomotor performance
• Increased visibility during commutes to school
• Long-term economic benefit. A recent report published by the Brookings Institution predicts that starting high schools one hour later would result in roughly $17,500 in increased future earnings per student in present value - a benefit:cost ratio of at least 9:1.

Maine is home to six chapters of Start School Later, Inc.:

• Fairfield 
• Midcoast (Knox & Lincoln Counties)
• Saco/Biddeford
• Scarborough 
• South Portland
• Southern Maine (York & Cumberland Counties) 

Each chapter is committed to advocating locally for safer, healthier school start times locally, within the state of Maine and across the nation. If you are interested in starting a chapter in your school district, county or borough, fill out our "Contact Us" form on this page.

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Update on legislation

Maine is one of several States in the US considering statewide legislation for healthy hours
LD 468, An Act To Provide for Later Starting Time for High Schools has been sponsored for a second time by Representative Matthew Daughtry (Brunswick)
More legislator contact info:
http://legislature.maine.gov/committee/#Committees/EDU

Email Education & Cultural Affairs Committee

When local school districts are not provided with positive direction to pursue healthy school start times, competing interests take center stage and the health and safety of our school children and their families continue to be sacrificed.

We can no longer afford to ignore the massive amounts of research that identify early school start times as a health and safety issue.

Contact the Education & Cultural Affairs Committee to voice your support for this bill.