Real Democracy For the People

Today was a momentous day in my small, fledgling foray into the world of politics.  On Maryland Day, Start School Later witnessed history, with legislation successfully passing the House of Representatives to start the conversation on the long-standing problem of early school start times in public high schools.

I could go on and on about how thrilled I am about the Bill passing and moving onto the Senate.  But, really, what I'm really inspired about is the fact that anyone, with hard work, tenacity, and a bit of know-how, can get started and influence decision-makers in this country to enact laws.

I was able to witness the House in Session, and being a political rube, I found the whole process fascinating.  Aside from the common perception that government is slow and ineffective, I really was able to observe a very methodical approach to lawmaking that allows for checks and balances.  While much of the proceedings may not have completely held my interest, there were some particularly moving aspects for me that I would never have appreciated if I wasn't there.

Imagine my surprise when the bell rang, the Session was called to order and over 100 people stood to pledge allegiance to the flag.  Of course, I promptly stood up and followed suit, happy that there was a flag in my line of sight that I could salute to. But, having not really done that since grammar school, it was amazing to see the pledge in action, with everyone, regardless of belief, position or background, affirming a common allegiance to our country.  Unlike a baseball game, where a song is played, every delegate stated the allegiance and it was quite moving to hear it and see it coming from adults and not children.  I was particularly captivated by a number of delegates who added a fervent "Amen!"  There was a certain reverence, not unlike the prayers Christians begin with to set the tone for church meetings.

The delegates were a mixed lot.  Young and old, from many ethnic backgrounds, from all walks of life.  These people were indeed our representatives, delegated to the task of representing their districts with the issues their constituents care about.  They were regular people, just doing their jobs.  It was particularly moving to me that the oldest running legislative building in our country is not far from the Market Place, the first stopping point of the transport of slaves from Africa in the 1700's.  Steeped in history and tradition, Annapolis harkens to a cruel time of the past, and while it's certainly far from perfect, a glimpse into how far we've come forward.

The fact that I, as a common citizen, can be privy to these proceedings, either by sitting in the gallery, or listening through a live online audio feed, makes governance that much more transparent.  During the announcements in the beginning of each Session, homage was paid to the holidays of Passover and Easter.  In Session I, the story of the Israelites getting safe passage out of Egypt and the LORD's protection was recounted and commemorated.  In Session II, the announcer commemorated the Christian observance of Easter and the hope for Messiah by reciting the Virgin Mary's prayer.

This reverence for the spiritual tradition of the law reminded me that public service is a civic responsibility to care for others.  This is real democracy in action.  I'm not naive enough to think that there are no flaws in our system of government.  But, compared to other countries, where people do not have a say about how laws are enacted, or who gets assigned to help shape the laws in the first place, our democracy is something that can be grasped and experienced.  I treasure it as a gift that our insightful forefathers blessed us with.

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Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law, happy is he. 
- Proverbs 29:18
 

Asleep at the Wheel

I had every intention of writing a post to update our audience on what's going on with Start School Later.  However, what came crashing through my driveway Wednesday, literally, has compelled me yet again to stop in my tracks and make an urgent plea: 

When are we going to wake up? 

When are we going to stop this roller coaster life long enough to realize that we need to stop putting our heads in the sand and wish away our problems?

When are we going to stop accepting that how we live is normal and that we shouldn't expect better?

When are we going to start putting health and safety first instead of wrestling with budget line items and the inconveniences of modern life spinning wildly out of control?

The picture I posted is what I took this morning, next to my mailbox.  If that car chose to lose control an hour earlier, twenty minutes earlier or an hour later, this would be a different post and the news would be much worse.

My insides are still tense at the thought, and I am thankful that while the front of my house is literally surrounded by live wires, we are all safe (and I'm at the Starbucks, waiting to pick up my kids from school...).

This is the third accident in as many months.  In December, some poor soul plowed into my tree, barely missing the utility pole, because he had to swerve away from an oncoming car that lost control.  This past fall, my next door neighbor's utility pole took a hit when an out of control car hit it, knocking out everyone's power in the next 5 miles for most of the day.

While I'm thankful there were no fatalities in all these wrecks, it wasn't because the accidents were fender benders.  It's because, thankfully, no one happened to be out in at the exact time of impact.  We are playing roulette with this road.

B&A Blvd is a state road (Route 648), which has a speed limit of 45 MPH and zero traffic lights from Lower Magothy Bridge Road all the way to Ritchie Highway.  The road is packed during peak hours (I can set my watch to the standstill of cars at 5:30pm every week day).  And, some folks may not realize, that this highway is also a RESIDENTIAL road.  People reside right on Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard.  I live right there - not  tucked away in a cul de sac or community development.

I cannot tell you how many times I see and hear the bus drivers, frantically leaning on their horns to get cars to slow down because the buses are coming to a stop and attempting to pick up school children.  My children.  Your children.

With the recesssion, there have been more pedestrians (not to mention runners and bikers) on this road than ever before. 

The solution is to put in a traffic light on B&A and Willet Road and slow down the speed limit. (The speed limit of a residential road is 25 MPH).  The fact that there is no traffic light on this curved stretch of open road with a high speed limit encourages fast driving.  Couple that with the fact there are no sidewalks and it is a recipe for disaster. 

I will be requesting a traffic light and a lowered speed limit on this road and will keep you updated on my progress.  When I mentioned this on Facebook, a friend, posted, "They won't do anything unless there are fatalities."  Sadly, it didn't take me long to pull up a fatality on this same stretch of road.

We are a nation asleep at the wheel.  The state of sleep deprivation is so rampant that hardly anyone can get on without a few cups of coffee.  Step into the Walgreen's and you'll see two aisles dedicated to energy drinks, energy shots, pills, and gums, all of which are available to minors.

Sleepy's Mattress stores are multiplying like rabbits and the problem isn't our mattresses, it's that we have been lulled into thinking that 24 hour access to everything is a necessity and we can't rest.  It's no wonder we're busy getting addicted to sleep drugs like ambien and now have access to ZzzQuil instead of NyQuil, JUST to go to sleep.

It's no wonder that we tell our students they should just "suck it up" and take this kind of abuse, because they'll have to learn to cope with it as adults.  We save a few dollars and tell our students by our actions that they are just about as important as the recycling we leave on the curb during predawn hours.

I cannot leave well enough alone.  Just as I will campaign for traffic safety on my own street, I will continue to beat the drum for later school starts.  It's high time that we stop putting athletic programs, convenience and budget line items ahead of the health and safety of our students.

I shudder to think that while all four of the accidents I documented here happened during daylight hours, there are many that have happened during predawn hours across the country, as students figure out a way to get to school in the dark.

For a listing of accidents and fatalities involving school students during predawn hours, look here.

If we invested $800,000 in transportation costs, that would be the equivalent of just under $11 per student in our system of 74,795 students.

With $11 per student, we could reduce sleep deprivation, which would then reduce obesity, depression, suicidal ideation, risky behaviors such as underage drinking and illegal drug use and crime.  Eleven dollars.  Are we going to continue to sit down and say that eliminating the cause of endangering our youth and restricting their ability to get the sleep they need is not feasible?

It's time to wake up.  Our kids deserve better.  We all deserve better. And, we are smart enough, inventive enough and more than able to work together as a community to fix this.

Maribel Ibrahim, The Frugal Writer, created www.StartSchoolLater.net and is the Director of Strategic Planning for Start School Later, Inc., a grassroots non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that the health, safety and equity of children are protected when determining school start times.  Start School Later now has 11 local chapters, working in communities across the country to protect the sleep needs of public school students.  Most recently, the Howard County Chapter joined the effort to combat unhealthy school start times. 

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

 

We’ve been back in school for a month.  As fall rolls in, so does the sleep deprived stupor that many of our public school students face as they grapple with early school start times.

There are some unsettling things we’ve found in our quest to educate the public about the need for healthier school start times.

At Start School Later,  we are dedicated to letting the general public know about the need to establish healthy school start times that do not conflict with the biological needs of students.  We’ve met with legislators, public officials, community members, parents and anyone else that will listen to our message. 

Ironically, a 7:17am start time does not seem to resonate with most folks that do not have high schoolers.  The impression is that this is the time students WAKE UP for school.  It doesn’t seem so bad to wake up in the seven o’clock hour, since most adults do it.

Our kids need to wake up at 5:30am or 6:00am to get ready and be AT school by 7:17am.  This is the eye-opener that most people do not understand about this problem.  

Most students get more sleep by sacrificing breakfast, passing up a shower or getting a ride instead of walking or catching a bus.  (They can’t go to bed earlier if they are getting home from sports events later than 9:00pm with homework waiting to be done).

As a sophisticated industrialized nation, we are sacrificing the basic needs of children to save a fast buck and maintain a system we are loathe to change.  What about the students that don’t have access to a car?  What about the students that have no choice but to walk to school in the dark, sometimes on busy, dark streets with no sidewalk and lots of traffic?

Most adults would not choose to stand outside on a pre-dawn corner to get a ride to work.  Yet, we ride by in our cozy cars and vans, passing many of our children who have to “report to work” earlier than most adults.

Somehow, we can jump through hoops when schools mandate early dismissals or sports schedules change, but we are not willing to consider collaborating in our communities for the long-term health, safety and equity of all of our public school students.

Hold on, there’s more.  Our magnet students face an even larger burden.  Because most of them are going to schools outside of their normal jurisdiction, they face longer bus rides.  And, ironically, instead of magnet programs starting on a different schedule, they start at 7:17am, forcing students to get to a centralized bus stop (which might require a longer walk, prior bus trip or car ride) even EARLIER than their mainstream counterparts.

In Anne Arundel County, MD, the #727 and #747 buses both make their first stop at 6:00am in order to service students that are in the Performing and Visual Arts High School program.  Bus #543 starts at 5:45am in order to service West County.  Bus #144, which serves the South County High STEM students, starts at 6:15am.  Bus #130 starts at 6:10am.

So, if you are a motivated individual excelling in school, you have to get there even earlier and travel farther than your sleepy “regular” contemporaries.  No good deed goes unpunished. 

Here’s the other kicker.  More economically advantaged students would just go to a private school or other specialty school outside of the public school system to hone their skills or prepare for their career. 

Many of our public school magnet students are coming from economically disadvantaged locations. They don’t have their own cars and may have to walk a mile to get to the bus stop.  Their parents are most likely to both have to work, leaving the student to fend for themselves without a convenient ride to school.  Is this the message that we want to send to our motivated students that want to excel?  That to work hard and perform well, you have to endure an even more demandingly sleepless schedule than your peers?

There is something severely broken in this system, when we continue to turn a blind eye to the basic health and safety needs of our youth and couch them as “character building” for when they “grow up”.  Let’s open our eyes and wake up to what we are really asking our youth to do.

Chime in below and tell us of your early morning sojourns.  How do the students in your family get to school?  Let’s get the conversation started, so we can get our heads out of the sand and start getting real.

Maribel Ibrahim, The Frugal Writer, created www.StartSchoolLater.net and is a Co-Founder of Start School Later, a grassroots coalition dedicated to ensuring that the health, safety and equity of children are protected when determining school start times.  Maribel’s Patch blog has recently been ranked in the Top 100 out of over 22,000 bloggers in the Patch network.

Sleeping In Saves Lives

While I hate to be melodramatic, there are two indisputable facts right in my community of Anne Arundel County, MD:

1) Anne Arundel County has the earliest public school start time of any school district in the state of Maryland, 7:17a.m.

2) In Anne Arundel County, suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth ages 10 to 17, second after unintentional injuries, according to a September 2010 report issued by the Anne Arundel County Department of Health.

Coincidence?  No.  Not when you consider that sleep deprived people often have feelings of depression and hopelessness if they continue to not get enough sleep.
An out of state petition signer (#3149) even stated as such, commenting: "Being tired every day is, I think, one of the reasons behind my suicidal impulses."

And yet, even a small change to start schools later will improve mood and lift depression almost instantly.  This is in addition to the preventable accidents that occur with student pedestrians standing in the dark and sleepy teens driving to school.

For now, if you or someone you know is feeling hopeless, has mood swings and is withdrawing from their normal daily activities, visit http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ or call 1-800-273-TALK anytime day or night to speak to someone who cares.  Here in Severna Park, we also have Building Life, a local community of people that can help pave the way out of darkness.

Start School Later plans to go to Washington, DC on the week of March 5, in honor of Sleep Awareness Week, to present our national petition.  But, if we don't have at least 5,000 signatures, our plea to give kids what they need will fall on deaf ears.

We also plan to bring the local Anne Arundel County petition, which is in dire need of signatures to accurately represent this problem in our county.  Every person aged 13 years or older, with a valid email address, is eligible to sign both the local and national petitions.

With only two weeks left, there is no time to lose.  The most effective way to get more signatures is to forward this blog post to five family, friends and associates.

Another simple, but effective way to increase signatures is to invite five Facebook friends to sign our petitions.  Simply share the national (http://bit.ly/tWa4dS) and Anne Arundel petition links (http://chn.ge/xO0DYf) and tag a few of your friends on your Wall's posting.  They will be able to see the link(s), learn about our petitions and click the appropriate links to add their signature.  (To "tag" a friend in Facebook, simply type @ followed by the first few letters of their name.  Facebook will then recognize and suggest your friends to include on the post).

If you are still not convinced that school start times are a problem, take a look at this YouTube video.  Filmed right here at a Blue Ribbon school in Anne Arundel County, the film is a disturbing look at what really goes on in classrooms early in the morning.

We hope you will sign both our petitions and spread the word.  Your support could be a life saver, and it could very well be one of our own.

Maribel Ibrahim, The Frugal Writer, created www.StartSchoolLater.net and is a Co-Founder of Start School Later, a grassroots coalition dedicated to ensuring that the health, safety and equity of children are protected when determining school schedules.  To get involved with Start School Later, sign the national petition and the Anne Arundel County petition to ensure that children do not start school before 8 a.m.