School board could delay action on middle school start times

Mason District parents are pushing back against a delay in implementing later middle school start times.

In September 2023, FCPS awarded a contract to Prismatic Services to develop a plan for changing middle school start times – to 8 a.m. or later – to take effect in fall 2025.

An online petition calls for FCPS to stick with that schedule. A toolkit for parents offers more information.

Currently, all middle schools in Fairfax County start at 7:30 a.m. Some students are picked up by school buses as early as 6:35.

Prismatic presented five options at a school board work session on Dec. 3. Several school board members proposed delaying implementation so the new start times could be considered along with the districtwide boundary study currently underway. They didn’t even discuss the options, says Jenna White, a parent who posted the petition.

Superintendent Michelle Reid plans to present a proposal at the Feb. 6 school board meeting on how staff can implement start times at the same time or after completion of the boundary study.

Mason District school board member Ricardy Anderson says changing middle school start times should not be coupled with nor implemented after the boundary study “given the number of unknown factors associated with the boundary review.” At-large board members Ryan McElveen and Ilryong Moon also oppose a delay.

Related story: Parents weigh priorities for FCPS boundary study

The petition notes that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. to align with adolescents’ natural sleep cycles.

Districts that have adopted later start times report significant benefits, including improved attendance, higher test scores, better mental health, and reduced car crash rates among teens. 

The issue is of particular concern in Mason District. The three middle schools in Mason – Holmes, Poe, and Glasgow – are the only middle schools in Fairfax County with grades 6, 7, and 8. All the others have just grades 7 and 8.

School board members who support a delay said it would only affect middle school students for two years. However, White points out, it would affect Mason District middle schoolers for three years.

Holmes, Poe, and Glasgow enroll 1,156 sixth-graders who are required to get up very early despite the negative impacts on their health and academic outcomes, White says.

The five options presented by Prismatic would set middle school start times at 8 a.m., 8:45 a.m., 9:30 a.m.; 9 a.m. (with some elementary schools starting at 8 a.m.); and 9 a.m. with some elementaries staring at 8:30).

Those options would require anywhere from zero to 169 additional buses. The most expensive option would cost as much as $17 million.

Discussions about changing middle school start times have been going on for years. After FCPS adopted a later start time for high schools, it moved middle school start times earlier to accommodate that change. At the time, FCPS agreed to look at changing middle school start times but that effort was delayed by the Covid pandemic.

“Now it doesn’t need to be derailed again,” White says. “They paid for a consultant and now suddenly they’re changing gears. We want them to figure it out now, not at some unspecified future date.”