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Fairfax County Council of PTAs Conducting School Start-Time Survey

posted Jun 2, 2008, 12:48 PM by HSS PTSA Webmaster   [ updated Jun 2, 2008, 4:05 PM ]
The Fairfax County School Board is looking into the possibility of starting middle and high schools at a later time in the morning so that school schedules would correspond better to children's sleep cycles. The primary reason for the change would be to improve student health and academic performance. To that end, the Fairfax County Council of PTAs (FCCPTA) is conducting a brief online survey which all FCPS famlies are encouraged to complete.

Some items to keep in mind as you take this 3-5 minute survey:
  • Bell schedules (start and end times of the school day) are based on using buses to make more than one trip.
  • Now, buses are used 2 or 3 times each morning, so start times are staggered across three basic time frames.
  • Elementary schools are in all three time frames from 7:50 a.m. to 9:25 a.m.
  • If bell schedules change, elementary schools would still be in all three time frames, but more elementary schools would start between 7:50 a.m. and 8:55 a.m.
  • Some elementary schools would still be in the latest timeframe, starting between 9:00 a.m. and 9:40 a.m.
FCCPTA has set up this online survey so that your student's school-related habits as well as your views on this issue might be tracked and presented to the school board. Please submit only one survey per household, and be assured that ALL responses will be kept anonymous.  If you have questions, please contact the FCCPTA School Start Survey Coordinator.
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