FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Our area's largest school system is considering some changes that could impact what time your kids go to school in the morning. School officials are moving forward with a plan to change start times for middle school students in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).
Currently, all FCPS middle schools start at 7:30 a.m. According to school officials, research shows that later start times may have positive impacts on student academic performance and mental and emotional well-being. In 2011, FCPS surveyed 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students and found that two-thirds of students reported sleeping seven hours or less on an average school night. That is at least two hours short of the recommended 8.5 to 9.5 hours needed per night.
High school start times were delayed until 8 a.m. or after beginning in the 2015-2016 school year, but middle school start times remained the same. Now, school officials have hired consulting firm Prismatic Services to create options and a plan for how to implement changes for middle schools.
At a school board meeting last week, Prismatic Services President Dr. Tatia Prieto gave an update on how the project is going. The goal would be to recommend start times to the board in January 2025 and implement any changes by 2026, if adopted by the board.
The plan also includes a series of public information sessions in the spring and fall of 2024. Prieto said the spring sessions will be informational.
"We'll communicate about sleep research and let participants discuss how later start times could be beneficial and could be implemented. Sometimes our best ideas come from people who are living it," Prieto said.
The fall sessions will include alternatives for input. There will be a total of eight sessions, but so far, no dates have been given for these sessions.
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