When my alarm goes off on Monday mornings, I always roll over, wanting desperately to have another hour of sleep. Finally those prayers and desires may be answered for me and the other students of LZHS.

Principal Mike Egan recently proposed that on Mondays, starting as early as right after spring break, school will start at 8:40. Teachers will meet with colleagues from their respective departments to discuss curriculum, and students can get an extra hour of sleep.

“It’s what we need. It is the only way to get better in teaching, learning, and the curriculum,” said Egan.

According to Stanford.edu students need nine hours and 15 minutes of sleep a day. This is impossible with early start times for schools.

It is also extremely tough with everyone’s lives outside of school.

I have after school athletics, work, and homework that I need to do before I can go to bed at night. If you add all of this together, the earliest I can go to bed is 10 pm. School starts at 8 am. As you can see, it is extremely hard to get the required amount of sleep to function properly.

But now, at least, I can get better sleep one night of the week.

Besides, focus on Mondays is greatly lacking for most students. After a great weekend it is virtually impossible to get back to the grind. With the new system in place, instead of being thrown back into the fire, we can all ease our way back into the school week.

I enjoy shortened days, as many students probably do.

I mark them on my calendar in big, bold letters. It is one less day that I really need to be on my A game. In a nut shell, I do just enough to get through the school day.

Late starts does not mean that it is a complete blow off day; teachers will still give their tests and homework as planned, but it does mean that students can relax a little bit more and ease back into the school week as opposed to being thrown, full force, back into the fire.

I’m glad we are getting with the program now. According to Egan, Stevenson has had this system for years. And since Stevenson is one of our biggest rivals, the least thing we can do is join them in this glorious system of starting late on Mondays.