SLEEP Pressures Candidates on School Starting Times

A education reform group is circulating a questionnaire to all Fairfax County School Board candidates in an effort to move high school starting times to later in the morning. 

The grassroots group, SLEEP (Start Later for Excellence in Education Proposal), sent out the one-page survey earlier this month, said Phyllis Payne, group co-founder. The survey comes just after an in which many respondents for the county’s 27 high schools. 

“Until they solve the problem, there will be people here asking them to fix it,” Payne said. “We think that it’s an issue that they need to come back and work on.” 

“The key question many in the community want to know from candidates in this school board election is,” Payne said, “'What are your solutions to address healthier start times that take into account everyone's concerns?'"  

The first bell for district high schools is 7:20 a.m., which means than many students leave their front doors before 5:45 a.m., shuffling to bus stops in the dark. Other Northern Virginia school districts, including those in Loudoun County, have adopted the later times. Over the past year, the issue has resurfaced as a popular topic of discussion at  

In 2009, the board rejected the move, citing costs and logistical complications in making all 5,000 bus routes work. However, the issue has refused to go away, Payne noted. 

The online discussion, launched by school district Superintendent Jack Dale in August, invited residents to vote and rank the school system's priorities. As of last week, the most popular topic by far was the issue of school bell schedules, with over 2,500 votes (in at least three separate threads) in favor of starting school later in the day. 

Payne hopes the new school board, the election is set for Nov. 8, will revisit the issue. “It’s sad that they stopped working on it, because they made a lot of progress on getting it done," she said of the school board's 2009 effort. 

Kathy Smith, the Sully District’s representative to the school board, said the board has tried to accommodate later starting times. 

“There is perception that the board is against kids sleeping later,” Smith said. “That isn’t true and isn’t the issue. When you try to make this work, the devil is really in the details.” 

When the board considered the issue two years ago, for example, elementary school parents raised concerns about keeping their children in school later in the day, Smith said. “You have to find something that is acceptable to the whole community.” 

“It's easy to say yes,” on the survey, Smith said. “But it’s much harder to implement it.” 

The candidates' responses will be available online at www.sleepinfairfax.org in October, Payne said.