Westchester Mom Founds Local Chapter of Start School Later

Toni Lyn Salvatore of Cortlandt Manor, NY, was inspired to found a Westchester County chapter of Start School Later when she found out her high-achieving teenage son was falling asleep in class. Here, read about her mission and how you can get involved.

Earlier this year, Toni Lyn Salvatore, M.D., of Cortlandt Manor discovered that her teenage son was getting poor grades in his accelerated math class. Since her son had received excellent grades in math up until that point, Salvatore was shocked. But when she sat down with his teacher, she found out the real problem was that her son was falling asleep in class. “His class begins at 7:30am! My son has to wake up at 6am every morning in order to get to school on time,” Salvatore says. “How many parents have seen the packs of ‘zombies’ entering the high school each morning? The kids look exhausted before they even get into class.”

A few months ago, Salvatore started a petition on Change.org, which garnered almost 100 signatures from parents in the Hendrick Hudson School District. The nonprofit Start School Later noticed her petition and asked Salvatore to start a Westchester County chapter of its organization. “To find out I wasn’t alone was great,” Salvatore says. “I’m interested in discussing why we need to start school later, and why these early start times are detrimental to the health and well being of our children.”