Would Life be Better if School Started 13 Minutes Later?

After hearing concerns from parents for years, the Board of Education has taken the first steps toward making a later school start time possible in Anne Arundel County.

At Wednesday's board meeting, members voted 6-3 in favor of creating a task force to study the issue of opening schools a little later for the benefit of students. The group, consisting of appointees of the interim superintendent, must give the board its recommendation by September 2014. 

The board also narrowly approved an online survey where parents can give their input on a potential schedule change where all schools start 13 minutes later. Under this proposal, county high schools would start at 7:30 a.m. and be dismissed at 2:18 p.m.  But because school openings are staggered, some elementary school dismissal times would be pushed back to nearly 4 p.m. For example, Benfield Elementary would start at 9:28 a.m. and be dismissed at 3:53 p.m.

The online survey will be posted Friday on the school system's website, www.aacps.org, and be available until Jan. 29.

Heather Macintosh, a member of the group Start Schools Later, said she was encouraged that the board was taking the issue to heart. 

"Sleepy kids can’t learn. It’s about creating healthy and safe school schedules for all students in Anne Arundel County," she said. "Putting the needs of the students first is critical to coming up with a healthy and safe school schedule for all kids and families in the county."

Since talk began on the issue, a criticism has been how the school system's transportation infrastructure would have to be changed to compensate for the later start time. Macintosh expressed confidence that these logistics could be worked out.

"We can solve logistics problems. The school system can tap into the resources in the county and in the region," she said, citing other areas such as Fairfax, VA and Montgomery County, who have encountered the issue themselves. 

In March, the school system released a study by its transportation department on the potential impacts of starting school later.

The study concluded that delaying the start and end times of local schools would impact transportation and infrastructure currently in place, and could also create an additional financial burden. One of the options proposed comes with an estimated $5.2-8.4 million price tag.

"Greater time, preparation, analysis, cost modeling, and Board approval would be needed before making any final decision on any option outlined in this report," the report concludes.

At the time, Superintendent Kevin Maxwell said the complex matter deserves more discussion. 

“There are an incredible number of ramifications to any change, and the intent of this document is to examine those ramifications so that informed discussion can take place," Maxwell said.

Macintosh said there are more creative solutions to the problem that haven't yet been studied, but with the establishment of the task force, was hopeful that new avenues will be explored.