LAWRENCE. KAN. — Lawrence High School students can now hit snooze a few more times.
"I had like two hours worth of homework a night," Kacey Eckert, a senior at Lawrence High School, said.
With students having homework, extracurriculars and dealing with stress, the district is hoping to help ease their pressure.
"We have had some committees working on studying the research related to sleep and brain development of young people since 2015," Lawrence Public Schools spokesperson Julie Boyle said. "The research shows that more sleep has positive effects on health and well being."
On Monday, the district's school board voted to give students in the 2020-2021 school year three options of when to come to school.
Here is how it would work: as of now, students can enroll in zero hour. Those are classes that consist of AP courses and classes students couldn't fit in their regular schedules. Class for everyone starts at 8 a.m. Next year, if a student is on track to graduate, they can opt for the 9 a.m. start time. The district is still working out how students would make up the next hour as well as staffing.
Four students we spoke with said they all would want to start at 9 a.m.
"..to be able to sleep in and do my homework because I have to work at night and I don't get off until 11 p.m.," junior Elsa Pannell said.
School administrators hope it helps their teens perform better, which results in a bright future.
"We're just looking at a lot of things as we try to make the school experience the best we can for the students," Boyle said.
POLL: Lawrence High School students will have the option next year to start school at either 7am, 8:05am or 9am. Yes or no if kids should be given options of when to come to school? @41actionnews
— Jordan Betts (@JordanBettsTV) December 11, 2019
