A new California State law will be in effect starting with the fall 2022 school year. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law stating that all California high schools will be required to push school start times forward, meaning that school will start later for all California high school students.

     The new law will require a start time for high schools to be 8:30 a.m. or later. The required time for middle schools to start will be 8:00 a.m. or later, while elementary schools will not be required to adjust their start times.

     For all of the RJUHSD this could have gone into effect at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, but the district chose to wait until the mandate took effect next fall and Roseville High School’s start time remained 7:40 a.m.

     With this being said, pushing to a later start time will mean that the school day will end at a later time in the afternoon.

     Since students had to go through virtual and at home learning for a year, starting later won’t really make a big difference but will still impact students and staff. This is most likely a negative change due to the fact that many Roseville High students and staff have established after school plans right now.

     With this requirement going into effect by the start of the 2022-2023 school year, this could potentially be a good change for some students, but there also could be some negative effects.

     The current start to the school day means that we get out earlier. This has worked well since both students and staff have more free time in the afternoons to work on homework, participate in other activities, or just hang out with friends. Also, the earlier start time is better for parents because they can drop off their students on the way to work.

     The problem with this requirement will be mostly with sport practices, transportation to and from school and after school curriculum. This could affect sports games because practices would begin earlier and games would begin and end later.

     Another possible problem with a later start and dismissal time would become very apparent in November 2022, after we lose an hour of daylight when we “Fall Back” for Daylight Savings time. It could put more students driving, walking or riding their bikes in the dark, causing traffic and safety issues for the students.

     However, there are some advantages to an 8:30 a.m. schedule. A later start would be better for the students who have early morning sports practice, and, of course, students love to get an extra hour of sleep every morning.

     As all of us know, the RJUHSD schools have gone through many stressful modifications over the past 18 months. This will just be another inconvenience to overcome. I would prefer to continue with the 7:40-2:30 schedule. 

      A lot of students and staff have made their after school plans to go along with the schedule that we have now. The honest reason why I don’t want a change is because I don’t like change with anything, the entire COVID situation has changed everything, and this is another post-COVID change that’ll make it more stressful.