BIDDEFORD, Maine — It looks like middle and high school kids in Biddeford, Saco and Dayton will get to sleep in later.
This week, the school committees approved later start times for the kids, including Thornton Academy.
With the change that begins next year, classes will start at 8:30 a.m. Right now, classes start between 7:30 and 7:45 in the morning.
Teenagers are healthier and perform better in school if they are allowed to sleep later, experts say. With the new hours, kids will be in school later and will have less free time each afternoon.
School officials see that as a huge positive.
“Students and their after school time at the high school and middle school level tend to sometime have a lot of free time at the end of the day, and this will help students limit those, maybe, poor choices,” Superintendent Jeremy Ray said.
Maine’s average high school start time is 7:53 a.m., 10 minutes earlier than the national average, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control report.