Recently, there has been a proposal to move back the start times of FCPS middle schools, beginning with a select few pilot schools to see if they can create a cost-neutral solution. The superintendent has published five proposed plans, pictured below, detailing changes in the other levels’ start times and possible costs in new transportation and bus expenses: 

These new changes are highly unnecessary. Best case scenario, the school system spends no more money, but schools get pushed back almost a whole hour, cutting into sports and afterschool activities. Worst case scenario, they spend $17M and push middle school to be the last to start, also cutting into students’ time for extracurricular activities.

These plans make marginal improvement at best, and cause highly unnecessary upheaval of existing schedules at worst. The current middle school start times are early, I understand, I spent two years on that schedule. My bus in 7th grade picked me up at 6:20. This is a challenge, but it’s one that kids need to overcome to be more prepared and productive for high school and for their lives. 

Current complaints revolve around a lack of sleep and declining mental health. However, very little of that is caused by school starting early, rather a lack of care to keep to a good sleep schedule by students. I was there too once, I know how tempting it is to stay up late and wake up with only one hand’s worth of sleeping hours, dragging myself to class and being a zombie for my first periods. It’s a challenge to keep to a schedule, and it’s going to be a challenge that a lot of students fail at, but for lack of a better phrase: Get over it.

Once they get to high school, they’ll have to do much more planning and scheduling to handle the harder course load and extracurriculars, and middle school is the warm up for that. If students are given a start time even to their elementary school, they won’t have the same pressure needed to get them to grow and change into more independent and disciplined students.

Additionally, the pushing back of middle school start times would negatively affect extracurriculars, giving even less time before students should be getting home for dinner and for time with their families. 

Pushing back start times would also just move the current problem later, as students wouldn’t get to doing homework until later, causing them to take even more time in the night as free time, cutting into sleep. The decision to move the times would just be costly and just cause unnecessary upheaval.