Orange County School Board to discuss proposed change in school start times Thursday

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Following a round of surveys sent to thousands of parents in November, the Orange County School Board was set Thursday evening to discuss the possibility of adjusting school start times for the coming school year.

The results of the survey showed that about 42 percent of parents said high school students would be much better off if school started later in the morning.

"I thought that it was a good idea to bring the start time back a little bit and a little later just so that the kids can have a little more sleep time," Dean said.

Only 19 percent said students would be somewhat better off and 13 percent said they would be much worse off.

The options were proposed earlier in 2016 and any changes are expected to be implemented by the 2017-2018 school year, officials said.

One of the options would push school start times back by about 40 minutes and would require 35 new buses at a cost of about $2.5 million a year.

Another option would push start times back by an hour and would require twice as many new buses at twice the cost.

The most expensive option would add 400 new buses.

One option that wouldn’t cost the district anything would push high school times to 7:30 a.m., elementary school to 9:05 a.m. and middle school to 9:50 a.m.

The people who want later start times are split between the decision to start at 7:30 a.m. or 8 a.m. or later.

Cox Media Group