I write to rebut a recently published submission to the editor dated June 12 of this year and relating to school start times. I was shocked to read the following:

"Rigorous evidence to suggest that changing school start times will be beneficial for kids does not exist."

I will wager that none of the three doctors that signed off on the letter is either a neuroscientist or psychiatrist, but they will surely be glad to hear that I've unearthed "rigorous evidence" … "Why We Sleep" is a landmark work of science, available via Amazon in 2017 and written by Matthew Walker.

From the book jacket I quote:

"Matthew Walker, PhD, is a professor of neuroscience and psychology at U.C. Berkeley, the director of its sleep and neuro-imaging lab, and a former professor of psychiatry at Harvard University. He has published more than a hundred scientific studies and has appeared on 60 Minutes, Nova, BBC News, and NPR's Science Friday. 'Why We Sleep' is his first book."

Allow me to point interested readers to his page 92 (hardcover edition) where he addresses sleep and school start times. Hint — the adolescent brain is biologically different from the adult brain.

Thank you.

Wayne Goodlin
Barrington