Schools Push Back Start Times; Advocates Urge More Change

ANNAPOLIS, MD — A decision by Anne Arundel County Public Schools leaders to push back the start and dismissal times for the 2017-18 school year has won praise from the Start School Later Anne Arundel County group.

The Board of Education voted Tuesday to shift school start and dismissal times next year; high schools will start at 7:30 a.m. instead of the current 7:17 a.m. The plan, approved by a 6-2 vote, calls for elementary, middle, and special schools to start 15 minutes later than they begin in the current year. Dismissal times would shift by the same amounts.

The advocacy group says its members are pleased that the school board recognizes the importance of safe, healthy and developmentally-appropriate school hours recommended by the American Medical Association, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other experts.

Ten buses must be purchased, at an estimated cost of $618,000, to make the change, school officials said.

The changes do not necessary alter start and dismissal times at Chesapeake Science Point Public Charter School, Monarch Academy Public Charter School, and Monarch Global Contract School. Those schools are responsible for their own transportation arrangements and therefore can establish their own start and dismissal times.

Superintendent George Arlotto was asked to give board members an update by March 1, 2017, with options for changing the start and release times of the handful of schools that may release after 4 p.m. due to a 15-minute shift. A release from Start School Later called that “heartening.”

In examining the school system’s budget, the advocacy group says there is transportation money that can be used to improve start times. With the continuing low cost of diesel fuel, as well as a new state law that exempts school bus operators from paying fuel taxes, the group says the school district has an estimated $2.2 million in addition to the $618,000 currently set aside by the county to modify school hours.

Start School Later Anne Arundel County days it is hopeful that the AACPS Board of Education will plan a second adjustment in start times for the 2018-2019 school year to move middle and high schools even closer to recommendations from medical experts that adolescents start school no earlier than 8:30 a.m.