Fairfax County Public Schools weighs later middle school start times
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (DC News Now) — Fairfax County Public Schools’ (FCPS) middle school students might get a bit more shuteye on school nights in the coming years.
The Fairfax County School Board hired a consultant firm to explore options to push back school start times. Currently, middle schools in the district begin classes at 7:30 a.m.
Prismatic Services Inc. will study possibilities over the next 10 months before presenting options to the school board in January 2025. The firm explored a similar effort for Anne Arundel County Public Schools.
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“Middle schoolers are not the same as elementary students. They are going through biological changes and that includes changes to their preferred and most beneficial sleep patterns,” Prismatic Services Inc. consultant Tatia Prieto told the board during its Feb. 22 meeting.
“The research that has come out of it is performance in academics,” she said. “We have documented research that shows later school start time can be equivalent to a couple months of education, are we doing the right thing if we don’t make the change?”
Stephanie Lundquist Arora, a FCPS mother, has a high schooler, a middle schooler, and an elementary schooler. Many nights, her son in middle school has late sporting events which does not allow him to head to bed until after 10 p.m. Then, he must be at the bus stop by 6:40 a.m., leaving too little time for a good night of sleep.
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“We are hopeful with my third son and responsible budgetary allocations, that he’ll be able to start school a little bit later. Just a little bit longer for sleeping,” Lundquist Arora said.
For parents with multiple children at different schools, staggered start times mean parents are spending a large amount of their morning sending their children off to school. For Lunquist Arora, bus stop drop off begins at 6:40 a.m., and lasts until after 9 a.m., when her youngest child heads off to school.
A change in a student’s start time also impacts transportation services, which will be one of the key factors explored by Prismatic Services Inc. It will analyze the division’s school bus program demands along with how a change would impact special programs and after-school activities.
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Prieto told the board that the Anne Arundel school district in Maryland has more after-school offerings for middle schoolers than FCPS does, and a later bell schedule was feasible without a negative impact on programs.
Prismatic Services Inc., will also explore how a change might impact teachers with personal obligations, such as picking children up from daycare and schedules for crossing guards.
After the group makes a recommendation, the earliest the start time changes would be implemented is by the 2025-2026 school year.
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