Later Start Time Approved For Falls Church Secondary Schools

FALLS CHURCH, VA — As the end of the term approaches for the current Falls Church School Board, a proposal to adopt later start times at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School and Meridian High School was approved Tuesday.

The school board voted 5-2 to move the school start time 20 minutes later at the secondary schools. Starting next school year (2024-2025), school would start at 8:30 a.m. School will end by 3:10 p.m. Currently, the middle and high schools run from 8:05 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"The gold standard is to start secondary no earlier than 830 [a.m.] because of teenage sleep patterns and mental health and that sort of thing," said School Board Chair Laura Downs.

The change at secondary schools has an impact on elementary schools. A 9 a.m. start was proposed for Mount Daniel Elementary School and Oak Street Elementary School. Proposed end times were 4 p.m. for Oak Street Elementary and 3:50 p.m. at Mount Daniel Elementary School. The elementary schools currently run from 8:50 a.m. to 3:50 p.m.

Jessie Thackrey Preschool already starts at 7:45 a.m., as hours were adjusted earlier this school year. Under the new proposal, the end time could be pushed from 2 p.m. to 2:20 p.m.

Before the vote, School Board members Lori Silverman and David Ortiz voiced opposition to the proposal due to the effect on elementary school start times.

There was more of a split on a following motion to make permanent early release Wednesdays. The School Board approved the measure with a 4-3 vote, but some members raised concerns about the impact on working parents.

"I know that there are parents who find early release Wednesdays difficult and of course, they want to support their teachers, but nonetheless, they do find these difficult in terms of childcare," said Downs.

Silverman brought up an equity concern with the proposal.

"It's a hardship on many working parents and many families," said Silverman. "But the biggest issue to me is the inequity of this current policy in order to have early release Wednesdays, because it really I think exacerbates the disparities between children who have abilities to do extracurriculars and other children who do not have those financial abilities and logistical abilities to do all those extracurriculars."

Superintendent Peter Noonan said FCCPS may be able to provide additional daycare support on Wednesdays if it can provide the staffing. With additional staff, the superintendent aims to provide 30 more daycare slots, both at Mount Daniel Elementary and Oak Street Elementary.

"We currently staffed daycare at 15 to one, so in order to stay in compliance, I think if we could get two more people at each site, that would open 30 more opportunities," said Noonan. "Right now, we serve almost 200 students at both Mount Daniel and Oak Street on Wednesdays already. So I'm not sure exactly what the need is. But it gives us an opportunity to kind of get a sense for what the need is and at least get started thinking about hiring some people."

Noonan believes it will be possible to draw staff from within the system, including parents, clinic employees, and high school seniors who have a last period study hall. FCCPS will also have to assess space for additional daycare.

At Tuesday's meeting, the school board also approved the 2025-2026 school year calendar. The board welcomed new members Amie Murphy and Bethany Henderson along with the returning Jerrod Anderson, who were elected to four-year terms in November. Two other members whose terms end on Dec. 31 were honored— Downs and Susan Dimock.