Maryland Considers Studying Later School Start Times

A hearing on a bill that would establish a task force to study whether it’s a good idea to start public schools in Maryland later is scheduled for Friday.

The bill, HB 1462, comes as school districts across the state, including Howard, Carroll, Anne Arundel and Montgomery counties have studied or are in the midst of examining whether later or different school start times are a good idea, according to the Baltimore Sun.

A national group, Start School Later Inc., is among those rallying support for the bill on social media and on blog posts on Patch.

Co-Founder Maribel C. Ibrahim wrote on Patch that experts and professionals will be invited to testify Friday on the bill. The Ways and Means committee hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday.

If approved, the task force would, among other things, study the “effects of sleep deprivation on academic performance” and would examine other school systems that have enacted a later school day.

The task force would make a recommendation on whether public schools should start no later than 8 a.m., according to the proposed bill text.

The Howard County chapter of Start School Later is run by Mark Donovan, a clinical therapist based in Columbia, who also blogs about the issue on Patch.

Have an opinion about school start times and want to blog about it in our Local Voices sections? Click here and then click on the green "Post on Patch" button.

In Howard County, high schools begin at 7:25 a.m.

Some people who are not in favor of changing start times say parents should be able to get their kids in bed in time for an early start.

“They have to learn that’s what after high school is,” Verna Schlein wrote on Ellicott City Patch’s Facebook page. “Getting up early and going to work … budgeting sleep, school homework and playtime is part of being an adult."

Donovan has met with members of the Howard County Board of Education and the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) as they begin a study into “the opening time of schools and the impact that an early opening has on the health and well-being of school students.”  

HCPSS is in the earliest stages of a study to determine whether it will change start times; specifically, according to spokesperson Rebecca Amani-Dove, whether elementary schools should start first and high schools last.

See related links:

Movement to Change School Times Lands in Howard County

Starting School Later Busing Options

How Early is Too Early to Head to Class?

School Start Times Under Review for Howard County Schools

Sign up for the Ellicott City Patch newsletter here and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for instant news updates and community conversations.