Nonprofit Calls for Board Action on School Start Times

A local nonprofit is urging changes be made to accommodate later school start times beginning in the 2015-2016 school year for Anne Arundel County Public Schools.

Superintendent George Arlotto’s fiscal year 2016 budget proposal for transportation routing software allows county schools to explore cost-effective options for later high school start times, but the proposal delays the purchase of the transportation software for seven plus months.

“This timeline would effectively preclude any change to bell times for the 2015-2016 school year, though the [AACPS School Start Times] Task Force finished its work months ago,” said Heather Macintosh, director of Start School Later Anne Arundel County and member of the task force.

Start School Later Anne Arundel County is a nonprofit working to promote healthy and safe school start times.

The nonprofit is urging the Board of education to take three immediate actions:

1. First, we urge the Board of Education to adopt a goal at its next meeting of ensuring healthy and safe hours for all children beginning in the 2015-2016 school year. It is unconscionable to continue to run schools at times that will jeopardize the health and safety of our children for another 20 months.
2. Second, we urge the board of Education to use savings realized from declining fuel prices to purchase routing software now, allowing AACPS to begin exploring and analyzing options seven months sooner than under Dr. Arlott’s proposal.
3. Finally, we urge the Board of Education to modify Dr. Arlotto’s proposed budget to include sufficient appropriations to change high school start times next year with a specific bell time schedule to be determined after the software acquisition and use identifies optimal school scheduling and bus routing.

Related Story

• Survey: School Start Times Should Change

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