It’s mid-December, and I just spent the past ninety minutes taking a test for Algebra II. I step outside the school, and I am greeted with the sun setting at 4:18 pm and the wind blowing directly in my face. I race home and have fifteen minutes before my 5:30 to 10pm dance practice begins. There isn’t time to do anything other than try and gulp down some food. When I get home, I will be too tired to do school work. This unfortunate afterschool experience is common to a lot of LCPS students and is just one of the reasons why schools in Loudoun County should start earlier.
Loudoun County has an unique approach to scheduling. Elementary school starts at 7:30, Middle School at 8:30, and High School at 9:30. This is in contrast to most high schools in Virginia, with neighboring Fairfax County starting at 8:10 am and Prince William at 7:25 am.
The later school start is a sweet and sour situation for many students. It has the potential to be helpful to people who may struggle getting up in the morning, but it has pretty much no other benefit.
”Personally, I think the start time is a little bit too late.” said junior Victoria Harrigan-Raschid. “I like having the chance to sleep-in [with the current time], but you have so much work anyway I think I would honestly prefer that the start time was moved to 8:30.”
Athletes also see little benefit to our current start situation, and find that it leaves them with little time after school to finish assignments.
“It definitely limits what I can do outside of school,” said junior Abigail Dawson. “ I can’t go early [to softball practice] because the traffic is so bad. The earliest I can do anything is 5:30.”
Another con of the current start time is the impact it has on athletes’ attendance. Since school doesn’t get out until 4:18, if there is an away game then all of the athletes have to leave before or during their last block. This is detrimental to the students’ grades in those classes, and results in the athletes missing important lessons.
The current start times are not just something that impacts the students, but it impacts the teachers lives as well.
“It affects me in that it’s not convenient,” said librarian Jenna Lombardo. “ My personal life would run better on an earlier schedule.”
School should start earlier for the sake of the students, teachers, and administrators. The current start time is not at all optimal and brings more challenges to people in this county than benefits.
Ideally, school would begin at 8:30 am, an hour earlier than our current start time of 9:30. With school starting at 8:30 am, students will be able to get out of school at 3:18 pm. This would allow optimal time after school for students’ work responsibilities, extracurricular activities, study time and personal endeavors.
