WSB/4/3
Sponsored by Dennis De Gennaro, Andrew Cole of Brentwood High School
This legislation was filed in the Education category
Presented as part of the YIG Volunteer 2024 conference
| 1 | BE IT ENACTED BY THE TENNESSEE YMCA YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT |
| 2 | Section 1: Let the following terms be defined as follows: |
| 3 | Middle school: Schools for those grades 6-8, approximately the ages of 11-15 years old |
| 4 | High school: Schools for those grades 9-12, for those of the ages approximately 14-19 years old |
| 5 | 3 pm: 15:00 local standard time |
| 6 | 9 am: 09:00 local standard time |
| 7 | Circadian rhythm: The natural cycle of physical, mental, and behavior changes that the body goes |
| 8 | through in a 24-hour cycle |
| 9 | Properly teach sex education: Must teach students full anatomy of human body, how reproduction |
| 10 | occurs, and how to properly conduct sexual relations safely through the use of contraception. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | Section 2 : Appalled that current Tennessee law has no cap on the maximum number of hours in a |
| 13 | school day. |
| 14 | Acknowledging, the current school day is required to be at least 6.5 hours for students in grades 1 |
| 15 | through 12 and schools at minimum are required to have 180 days of instructional learning days, |
| 16 | resulting in 1,170 hours of instructional learning time per school year. |
| 17 | Noting that every credible scientific study confirms that teenagers need 8-10 hours of sleep, and |
| 18 | that their circadian rhythm dictates their natural time to fall asleep is 11 pm. |
| 19 | Further realizing that productivity increases when the amount of hours worked decreases. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Section 3: Henceforth declare that middle and high schools in the State of Tennessee cannot start |
| 22 | earlier than 9 am, and must release no later than 3 pm to maximize productivity in schools and to |
| 23 | ensure that students have time to pursue extracurricular activities (ex. Sports, clubs, internships, |
| 24 | and/or jobs). |
| 25 | Clarify that this starting time does not apply to extracurricular activities that take place at the |
| 26 | schools in question |
| 27 | |
| 28 | Section 4: Further declare that schools must properly teach their students sex education in the 6th |
| 29 | grade of Middle School. Students can be exempted from the class if their parents sign an |
| 30 | exemption form. |
| 31 | |
| 32 | Section 5: Schools that do not uphold this bill will have their funding fully revoked and students |
| 33 | will be sent to the nearest public school that does. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | Section 6: This bill does not require any monetary assistance. |
| 36 | |
| 37 | Section 7: All laws or parts of laws in conflict with this are hereby repealed. |
| 38 | Section 8: In order to give schools time to adjust to this sudden shift, this bill is to take effect on |
| 39 | June 21st 2025, to be applied to the 2025-2026 school year and all future years. |
| 40 |