Smart Start Guilford

The science is clear: it is unhealthy for adolescents to start school before 8:30am.  The current GHS start time (7:40am) means bus pick-ups before 7am and wake-up times before 6am, the biological equivalent of asking an adult to get up at 3 or 4am.  Teenage sleep deprivation has been shown to contribute to drowsy driving accidents, worse grades and test scores, and poor mental health.  We must do better.

Smart Start Guilford was founded to advocate for data-driven changes to school start times, the most important systemic improvement we can make to our children's lives.  At its May 11 meeting, the Guilford BOE committed to forming a task force to study this issue and make recommendations.  Now is the time to rally community support for this initiative!

Click to learn more about Start School Later's Healthy Hours Connecticut Initiative. 

The Healthy Hours CT Initiative is hosting "Getting to Yes — and Getting It Done, A Workshop on Later School Start Times" at Trinity College on October 13, 2026 for advocates and school officials.  Visit the site to sign up (free to attend).

Smart Start Connecticut Inc. (d/b/a Smart Start Guilford) protects adolescent health and improves educational outcomes by advocating for school schedule alignment with medically established biological needs. We synthesize peer-reviewed medical data to educate local school boards, parents, and community leaders on the severe cognitive and systemic health risks of chronic sleep deprivation caused by early high school start times, providing solutions for institutional change.