Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) bell schedules, school board members, and information about the history of later start times in Fairfax:

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) sites:

• FCPS current bell schedules
• School Board homepage click on “general information” for member profiles and email addresses.

FCPS Discussions on Changing Start times, 1998-2003:

• 1998 Fairfax County Task Force Report on High School Opening Times (this is a 2.7MB pdf)


• FCPS record of Madison high school discussions about making high school start times later.

SLEEP Activities :

• History of school start times in Fairfax


• SLEEP suggestions for Request for Proposal (RFP) - Spring 2005


• RFP to hire the Transportation Consultant (this is a 2MB pdf file)


• SLEEP response to the RFP


• FCPS School Board Work Session on Optional Transportation
• Chart listing optional transportation programs and number of buses


• SLEEP comments on constraints and assumptions for the transportation study


• MPS (Transportation Consultant) Presentation to the Community Advisory Committee (October 26, 2005)


• SLEEP Questions to MPS


• Preliminary report for Management Partnership Services


• SLEEP response (November 2005)


• MPS Final Report (Phase 1) January 2006
• Appendix to MPS Final Report (Phase 1) January 2006


• Minutes from the March 9th Regular School Board meeting when the board agreed to delay the vote on Phase 2 of the high school start time transportation study are worth reviewing. The pertinent discussion begins on page 17


• Minutes from the April 6th Regular School Board meeting starting on page 6, when the School Board approved Phase 2 on April 6th in a 9 to 2 vote. Kathy Smith and Tessie Wilson were opposed. The motion for the study was a compromise and blend of different proposals. It contains many (though not all) of SLEEP's suggestions for Phase 2, building on models outlined by MPS in its January 2006 report, as well as some cost-saving ideas SLEEP objected to as politically unacceptable. There was some discussion of a 30-minute slide (shifting the entire FCPS bell schedule by 30 minutes). A few school board members felt strongly that this would disadvantage those elementary school students in the latest-starting schools. It is important to note that many SLEEP members believe the current bell times seriously disadvantage middle and high school students. Maintaining the status quo without adding flexibility for teens who suffer serious sleep deprivation due to the physiological changes of puberty is unacceptable.


• MPS Final Report, Phase 2, December, 2006 Later high school start times are feasible at a reasonable cost.
• Models with bell schedules between 8 and 9:35 am would cost between $5.9-$9.2 million. (Other models cost less but had later end times.)
• This is a stand-alone estimate. It requires no changes to boundaries, current level of transportation service or elimination of transportation to special programs (e.g., GT Centers). Elementary school children would not be at bus stops in the dark.
• Separate estimates of how much would be saved with certain policy changes or service reductions (such as boundary changes) were small.
• The transportation system needs to be reengineered to avoid a crisis in the next few years.
• Transportation service reductions and boundary changes yield less-than-expected cost savings: Systemwide, the projected cost savings range from 0 to $8.4 million (p.7 and 34). The school system would need to balance these relatively modest cost savings against the disruption of service reductions.


• § SLEEP/FCCPTA Town Meeting October 29, 2006. Read all about it.

 

Previous Announcements:

• March 2008 Announcement:

FCPS Transportation Task Force (TTF) proposes changes in bus service and new bell schedules that achieve beneficial later start times for high school students.

SLEEP Summaries of the Transportation Task Force work are now available: Bell Schedule Proposals and Transportation Service Parameters and Other Recommendations.

To review the complete document, please click on the links below: The 320 page version: Final Report of the TTF (with Appendices-this is a large, 3.7GB file). The 24 page Final Report without Appendices.   

• January 2008 Announcement

We should be seeing significant action in early 2008, including a report from the School Board's Transportation Task Force that will include its best alternative(s) for a later high school bell schedule.

Various committees are looking at five bell schedule scenarios. These could be modified before final recommendations are made, but for now these are the five the Task Force has developed. Please take a look at them and let us know which you think may be the best alternative(s): http://www.fcps.edu/fts/taskforce07/documents/ttfbellshedules.pdf

When considering them, please keep in mind these basic factors:

The Task Force has made some preliminary recommendations on transportation issues, such as how long bus rides should be, limits on children waiting for buses in the dark, etc. There is a special website for documents connected to the TTF. To follow the group's progress click on this link: http://www.fcps.edu/fts/taskforce07/index.htm

BUDGET HEARINGS: Please consider signing up to speak at the Feb. 6 hearings on the budget to voice your support for later high school start times. You can signup between January 11 and February 5 at the following link: http://www.fcps.edu/schlbd/requestspeak.htm.

See the new addition to the Research page, an article by author Nancy Kalish entitled The Early Bird Gets the Bad Grade.

• October 2007 Announcement:

The School Board Transportation Task Force (TTF) has started its work. Its mission includes "a focus on possibly changing school start times particularly for high schools." The TTF charter states that the SB believes that later start times would be beneficial, and seeks the best alternatives for achieving them." This language was added at a School Board work session in July and represented a significant step in recognition that reasonable start times for our children K-12 are best for their physical, mental and academic health.

Task Force members may be most interested in SLEEP documents on our “History” and Research pages.  The research page includes surveys within Fairfax, information from other jurisdictions that have shifted to later start times and more. FCPS has created a special website for the TTF, with background documents, meetings agendas, etc. 

• May 2007Announcement:

The School Board has taken a significant, positive step on the start time issue. But there is still more work ahead for SLEEP supporters.

Good news: At a work session on April 23, the School Board agreed by consensus (no formal vote) to ask staff to re-engineer transportation bell schedules and routing to change high school start times and to improve certain service parameters. Staff said they could have something for the community to react to by next Spring for possible implementation in the 2009-2010 school year.

Not so good news: Describing how they would proceed, staff said they would:

• Wait 6 months before reassigning personnel to work on this effort (October or November).
• Develop cost-neutral proposals to avoid the need for more bus drivers or parking.
• Prefer to wait for community input until after a new schedule is developed.

SLEEP testified on May 16 about the direction we believe the School Board should take. For more information, click here.

• June 2007 Announcement:

School Board Members decided to discuss “parameters” for the Transportation Re-engineering and to involve stakeholders. To inform the discussion, staff presented a “Transportation Primer On Transportation Bell Schedules” and a set of “Parameters To Be Decided”. We have added SLEEP comments to both documents in blue font and have written an email to SB members. If you have additional suggestions, feel free to email us at SLEEP2005@aol.com.

• Feb. 11, 2007 Announcement:

YOUR emails made the difference! On February 7, the School Board voted 7 to 5 to include a $300,000 placeholder in the school system's 2008 budget to address pressing transportation issues. While the final motion did not specifically mention later start times, SLEEP sees reengineering transportation as a step toward achieving this goal. 

Final vote on Kory-Hunt amendment for the $300,000 budget placeholder for transportation:

7 votes in favor: (SLEEP position): Kaye Kory, Steve Hunt, Janet Oleszek, Ilyong Moon, Cathy Belter, Phil Niedzielski-Eichner, and Janie Strauss.

5 votes opposed: Kathy Smith, Stu Gibson, Brad Center, Dan Storck, and Tessie Wilson

Some members said they were voting against only because they wanted more information from upcoming work sessions.

SLEEP response to SBM form letter on placeholder amendment: A few School Board members sent out form letters that contained inaccurate information in response to constituents' calls for action on the $300,000 placeholder amendment supported by SLEEP. We respond here.

• January 2007

The MPS Phase 2 study is a very positive step forward in the discussion of how to achieve later high school start times.

Highlights of The MPS Phase 2 Report:

• Later high school start times are feasible at a reasonable cost
• Models with bell schedules between 8 and 9:35 am would cost between $5.9-$9.2 million. (Other models cost less but had later end times.)
• This is a stand-alone estimate. It requires no changes to boundaries, current level of transportation service or elimination of transportation to special programs (e.g., GT Centers). Elementary school children would not be at bus stops in the dark.
• Separate estimates of how much would be saved with certain policy changes or service reductions (such as boundary changes) were small.
• The transportation system needs to be reengineered to avoid a crisis in the next few years.

Highlights of school board’s work session:

• Most of the school board members expressed a belief that FCPS must re-engineer its transportation system sooner rather than later to avert a true collapse.
• Several agreed that later high school start times should be included as part of the overhaul.
• Initial costs of creating later high school start times might be greater than the modeled estimates but would settle in to that level as real-world efficiencies are regained.
• School board members agreed to discuss this issue further in January.

Other Notes of Interest:

Transportation service reductions and boundary changes yield less-than-expected cost savings:

§ Systemwide, the projected cost savings range from 0 to $8.4 million (p.7 and 34). The school system would need to balance these relatively modest cost savings against the disruption of service reductions.

SLEEP Conclusion:

This report paves the way for the next step in considering later high school start times. With this data as a starting point, FCPS can start a meaningful dialog with the community about school start and end times. We need to explore other issues besides transportation using a collaborative, cooperative, solutions-based approach.

Later start times might serve as a catalyst for an overdue reengineering of the FCPS transportation system. While FCPS has managed to stretch transportation resources far beyond what could be expected, consultants are telling us that it has reached--and exceeded--its limits. New service demands are inevitable as FCPS transitions to the 21st Century. Reengineering transportation with a preferred bell schedule in mind would help the entire system prepare for the future.