ORLANDO, Fl. — School board members in Orange County are once again discussing pushing back the start times for area high schools.
The issue was initially brought up a couple of years ago before eventually coming to a halt. This time around, several new school board members have taken an interest into the topic.
"There is a lot of brain research out there and a lot of studies show that teenagers really shouldn't be starting school before 8:30 a.m. just because they haven't gotten enough sleep," said board member Karen Castor Dentel.
Dentel has asked the board to consider pushing back the 7:20 a.m. start time for high schools. She is one of the five new school board members seated since November.
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Some believe the schedule shouldn't be tinkered with.
"I think they need to leave it the way it is just so the kids have time for downtime between homework and sports and everything else," said parent Sherry Balmer.
The last time the topic was discussed, the cost was about $8 million for new buses and $5 million for operational costs.
Dentel said she hopes the possibility of a schedule change happens sometime in 2020.
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