Phase II: Post Task Force Work

Timeline of Events

December 10, 2014: Superintendent George Arlotto included $750,000 in his recommended Fiscal Year 2016 budget to purchase transportation software and hire a transportation specialist to examine what efficiencies could be gained in student transportation across the school system.  Click here to link to watch the video of the December 10, 2014, BOE meeting where this action occurred. (For minutes of this meeting, click here).

February 2, 2015: the Anne Arundel County Council passed a resolution encouraging the Anne Arundel County Board of Education and the Superintendent of Anne Arundel County Public Schools to establish safe and healthy school hours for all students. Click here to watch the video of this discussion from the Anne Arundel County Council Meeting on February 2, 2015, Anne Arundel County Council where this action occurred.

February 18, 2015: the Board of Education of Anne Arundel County Board of Education (BOE) – in the adoption of its FY2016 budget request – included $600,000 for the purpose of changing school start times.  Click here to link to watch the video of the February 18, 2015, BOE meeting where this action occurred. (Jump to Agenda item 4.01 for this specific discussion).  (For minutes of this meeting, click here).

June 12, 2015: the Anne Arundel County Council passed the AACPS budget and included $600,000 for AACPS to address the issue of changing school start times. Click here to watch the video of the June 15, 2015, Anne Arundel County Council meeting where this action occurred.

June 17, 2015: the Board of Education of Anne Arundel County (BOE) voted to allocate $600,000 “to shift current school hours no later than the start of the 2016-2017 school year.”  Click here to watch the video of the June 17, 2015, BOE meeting. (Jump to Agenda item 4.01 for this specific discussion). (For minutes of this meeting, click here).

Phase I: The Superintendent's Charge to the Task Force

 On February 19, 2014, former Interim Superintendent Mamie J. Perkins announced the formation of a 15-person task force to thoroughly examine school start times within Anne Arundel County Public Schools. The task force was charged with researching and developing options regarding school start times at all levels, taking into consideration the work previously conducted within AACPS and by other districts of comparable size as well as relevant medical, social, and behavioral research regarding students and school performance. Mrs. Perkins also directed the task force to carefully review the financial and non-financial implications of altering school start and end times and provide a report to the Board of Education in September, 2014. Dr. George Arlotto, hired as the new Superintendent of Schools in July 2014, continues to support the charge given to the Task Force by his predecessor. Click here to read the complete Press Release.

The Start Times Task Force believes: 

1. Adolescents will be better students if they are healthier; part of health is getting an appropriate amount of sleep.
2. Starting high schools later than 7:17 AM will allow adolescents to get more sleep each night.
3. Children need both curricular and co-curricular activities in their lives.
4. Students should not be walking to or from school/bus stops in the dark during the morning or afternoon.
5. Providing school start times that align with a family's schedule, when possible, minimizes the time students are unsupervised, before and after school, and maximizes time for family engagement.