FCPS seeks public input on options for later school start times

The Fairfax County School Board is seeing public input on the following four options to implement later school start times for high school students:

Middle school late

• High school hours: 8:30 a.m.-3:20 p.m.
• Middle school: 9:30 a.m.-4:20 p.m.
• Elementary school: starts 7:50-9:15 a.m. and ends 2:25-3:50 p.m.
• Approximate cost: $7.6 million
• Buses added: 60

Middle school early, elementary school 15 minutes earlier

• High school: starts 8:10-8:20 a.m. and ends 3-3:10 a.m.
• Middle school: 7:20 a.m.-2:10 p.m.
• Elementary school: starts 7:45-9:10 a.m. and ends 2:20-3:45 p.m.
• Approximate cost: $4.6 million
• Buses added: 38

Middle school/high school flip

• High school: starts 7:50-8:20 a.m. and ends 2:40-2:50 p.m.
• Middle school: 7:20 a.m.-2 p.m.
• Secondary schools: start at 7:50 or 8:20 a.m., with other high schools starting at 8 or 8:10 a.m.
• Elementary school: keep current schedule, starting 8-9:20 a.m. and ending 2:40-4 p.m.
• Approximate cost: $5.6 million
• Buses added: 46

High school later

• High school: 9:15 a.m.-4:05 p.m.
• Middle school: starts 8:20-8:30 a.m. and ends 3:10-3:50 a.m. (one middle school would start at 9 a.m.)
• Elementary school: starts 7:40-9:15 a.m. and ends 2:20-3:50 p.m.
• Approximate cost: $2.8 million
• Buses added: 25 

FCPS will conduct a community engagement process to obtain feedback on those scenarios in late May and early June. Meeting dates haven’t been set yet. Final recommendations will be presented to the school board in July.

The parent advocacy group SLEEP (Start Later for Excellence in Education Proposal) has been working to get FCPS to adopt later start times for high schools since 2004. The group cites research showing that teens need more sleep in the mornings to function effectively in school. More time for sleep in the morning promotes students’ mental and physical health, academic performance, and safety. 

Currently, high schools start at 7:20 a.m., which means some students start boarding buses at 5:45 a.m.

In 2012, the school board adopted a resolution calling for FCPS to seek a solution to allow high schools to start at 8 a.m. or later.

The school board awarded a contract to the Children’s National Medical Center (CNMC) in March 2013 to develop a proposal to achieve this goal. CNMC’s Division of Sleep Medicine worked with a stakeholder committee to develop several workable scenarios. Those scenarios were presented to the school board on April 23, and the board decided to seek feedback from the community on four of them.