The idea of later school start times has spread to the town of Franklin.

As it stands right now, Franklin High School has one of the earliest start times in the area with Medway beginning school at 8:04, Milford students getting to class at 7:50, and the bell ringing in Bellingham at 7:30, but as early as January 2019, students at Franklin High could be the ones sleeping in the latest.

Beginning school at a later time would allow students to develop longer natural sleep cycle which in turn allows for more cognitive function, or increased availability to learn according to the U.S National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health.

More sleep during the week seems almost too good to be true, however, there is no evidence that proves that students will go to bed earlier which would refute school being pushed back for an extended amount of sleep.

When Abigail Lussier, an 8th grader at Bellingham High School was asked about what time she goes to bed at night she responded, “I got to bed around 10 every night and if school started later I’d go to bed later.”

Her answer did not differ much from the answer given by sophomore Anna Balkus who said, “I go to bed at 10 o’clock.”

Franklin High School prides itself on its outstanding athletic programs, yet pushed back start times would cause practices to be pushed into the night.

Senior Lauren DeStefano plays both soccer and lacrosse. She says that “I don’t think it would be beneficial to change the start time since I would become acclimated to the new time and be just as tired.”

A later start time will also affect those who are not students at Franklin High School. Starting school at a later time would create a hassle for families managing multiple kids in different schools if their job lacks flexible hours.

Ms. Donna Grady, head of the Teacher’s Union said that there will be, “[A] financial and economic impact on families who may have to find additional child care [and] on staff who live in towns that are not implementing the change in start times.”

Although no times will be changed until 2019, the controversy over school start times has already been set ablaze.