By Nicholas C. Delos
Delaying the Fairfax County High School opening bell by an hour is feasible, despite a predicted nine million dollar cost, according to a recent study. Any change, however, would require an overhaul of the current school transportation system which could take up to three years to fully take effect.
The organization, SLEEP (Start Later for Excellence in Education), had been calling for the School Board to delay class start times in Fairfax high schools by at least an hour later than their current start at 7:20 a.m.. The group points to studies that indicate that a delayed school start would allow students to perform better scholastically, as well as making an improvement in their fitness. These improvements predicted by the studies are due to an increase in the amount of sleep predicted or demonstrated under later school openings.
The Fairfax School Board hired two consultants, Platt and Forsyth, from Management Partnership Services to determine if and how the transportation system could be adapted to between an 8 and 9:35 a.m. high school start time. Their study found that any change what so ever could have a “significant negative impact” on school transportation services but it would also present an opportunity to improve running cost efficiency by 4 to 12 percent. Their cost estimate for these time models ran from $5.9 to $9.2 million. They found that it would be impossible to make minor adjustments to the transportation schedule without changing the entire system, which would be “very difficult to implement”. Additionally, if a postponement of just 40 minutes was made, students in elementary school would be going home at dusk during some parts of the year.
According to the consultants, the transportation system is now at a maximum in efficiency. The inevitable expansions and changes of the expanding school system would require and increase in the amount of resources allocated and such expansions are predicted, by the study, to become necessary in the next few years. To this effect, earlier this year, the Fairfax County School Board passed a $300,000 budget placeholder for the purpose of reengineering the transportation system.
The school board is continuing its consideration of rescheduling with different school time models. Additionally, most board members already agree upon the necessity of revamping the transportation system.
