My alarm goes off at 6 a.m. most school days. By 7:30, I’m in first period, trying to make sense of derivatives or DNA replication while my body is still telling me I should be asleep.

I’m not lazy. I’m a teenager. And every major medical organization in this country agrees that asking me to learn at this hour is bad policy.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine all recommend that middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

The reason is biology, not preference. When kids hit puberty, our circadian rhythms shift later by about two hours. Falling asleep before 11 p.m. becomes physically difficult, and waking up at 6 a.m. means we’re missing huge chunks of the eight to ten hours of sleep we actually need.

Despite that, the CDC estimates that 82 percent of American middle and high schools still start before 8:30. Connecticut is no exception — and in some ways, it’s a particularly stark example. I have spent the past several months building a bell-time database of Connecticut’s public school districts for Start School Later, a national nonprofit where I serve as the National Student Advocacy Coordinator. What the data shows is striking: of the dozens of districts I’ve confirmed so far, nearly all high schools start well before the recommended threshold.

Bridgeport’s high schools start at 7:53 a.m.. West Hartford’s Conard and Hall high schools start at 7:30 a.m. Hartford’s high schools follow a similar pattern. Of all the districts I’ve researched, Greenwich is the only one confirmed to meet the 8:30 a.m. recommendation. One out of dozens.

Greenwich is the only district I’ve confirmed that has gotten it right — and the state legislature has an opportunity to change that picture for everyone else.

Sleep-deprived teenagers don’t just struggle in class. They get into more car crashes. They develop higher rates of depression and anxiety. They miss more school and graduate at lower rates. The data has been clear for over 20 years.

So why haven’t more schools changed?

The honest answer is bus schedules. Most districts run buses in tiers — high schoolers first, then middle, then elementary. Flipping that order means rebidding contracts and renegotiating with coaches and families. It’s a hassle. So instead of doing it, schools have spent decades asking teenagers to override their biology.

When California passed Senate Bill 328 in 2019, it became the first state to mandate that high schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. Districts said it would be impossible. Then they did it. Sleep duration went up. Tardiness went down. Nobody’s transportation system collapsed.

I get the counterarguments. “Kids should just go to bed earlier.” That’s not how puberty works. Telling a 16-year-old to fall asleep at 9 p.m. is like telling an adult to fall asleep at 6 p.m.. The biology doesn’t care what time your alarm is set for.

“What about athletics?” Districts that moved start times later say sports adjusted within a season. Kids play better when they’ve slept.

“It costs too much.” A 2017 RAND Corporation analysis estimated that shifting to an 8:30 a.m. start time would generate $83 billion for the U.S. economy within a decade — through better academic outcomes, higher graduation rates, and fewer teen car crashes. Within five years, benefits outweigh costs two to one.

Connecticut’s legislature has the data, the precedent, and the opportunity. This is one of the rare policy decisions where the evidence is overwhelming, the cost is manageable, and the benefits show up almost immediately. There is no controversy in the medical literature. There is just a gap between what we know and what we do.

Adults made these schedules. Adults can change them.

I’d love to sleep in tomorrow. But more than that, I’d love for the alarm to make sense.

Sahil Kancherla is a high school student and the National Student Advocacy Coordinator for Start School Later.