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Fairfax County’s Mason District will serve as a testing ground for later middle school start times after the School Board unanimously approved a pilot program on March 27.

The motion from Mason District Representative Ricardy Anderson directs the superintendent to deliver a cost-neutral plan by April 10, 2025. The plan will examine launching later start times at as many of the district’s three middle schools—Glasgow, Holmes and Poe—as possible during the 2025-2026 school year.

Details still must be developed, including a new bell schedule and any effects on nearby elementary and high schools. The plan is supposed to minimize schedule changes for the high schools in each school pyramid.

Mason’s middle schools currently begin classes at 7:30 a.m. Anderson said students and families have repeatedly asked the board for relief from that early start, submitting letters, testifying and participating in a work session.

“This is a priority for the Mason District, and as their representative, it is my responsibility to advance that,” Anderson said.

At-large board member Ryan McElveen seconded the motion. Hunter Mill District Representative Melanie Meren also supported what she described as a budget-neutral experiment, saying it could reveal what is possible while easing early start times for students.

A decade-old scheduling problem

Fairfax County Public Schools has considered changing middle school start times for roughly a decade.

A 2011 survey found that most students in eighth, 10th and 12th grades were not getting the recommended eight or more hours of sleep each night. In October 2014, the School Board responded by moving high school start times from 7:20 a.m. to between 8 and 8:10 a.m.

Accommodating that change within the school system’s complex bus schedule pushed most middle schools to a 7:30 a.m. opening.

Then-Superintendent Karen Garza pledged in 2015 to revisit middle school schedules. Leadership changes and the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the effort, however, and FCPS did not begin its current review in earnest until 2023.

The school division hired Prismatic Services Inc. to devise options that would allow middle schools to begin after 8 a.m. The consultant presented six possibilities to the board in December.

Only one, known as Option C2, also received a recommendation from the FCPS Office of Transportation Services. It would start middle schools at 9:40 a.m., secondary and high schools at 8:30 a.m., and elementary schools at either 8 or 9:10 a.m.

FCPS staff said that schedule would require neither additional buses nor new funding. Middle schools would experience the largest adjustment, limiting changes for elementary and high school students.

Boundary review could delay wider changes

Efforts to overhaul bell schedules have become entangled with Fairfax County’s first comprehensive school boundary review in decades.

The redistricting study is expected to conclude in early 2026. FCPS has recommended coordinating boundary and start-time changes to reduce disruption.

Anderson argued that waiting could leave today’s middle school students without relief until they reach high school, especially if any changes are introduced gradually. She said the timeline remains unpredictable and could postpone action for years.

“I don’t want for that discussion to continue to be waylaid,” Anderson said.

Prismatic suggested testing later start times during a Feb. 18 work session. Anderson said Mason District is particularly well suited for a pilot because it is the county’s only district where sixth graders attend middle school rather than elementary school.

That difference dates to the early 1990s. The School Board tested placing sixth graders in middle school during the 1990-1991 academic year and agreed the following year to expand the arrangement countywide, but the broader change never occurred.

At Anderson’s request, the board directed FCPS staff in 2021 to study moving sixth graders at Glasgow, Holmes and Poe back to elementary schools. Focus groups and community meetings found parents almost evenly divided between keeping the existing arrangement and matching the rest of the county, so staff did not recommend a next step.

Superintendent Michelle Reid is now considering moving sixth grade into middle schools across the county as part of the boundary review. FCPS has confirmed that the option is under consideration.

Anderson acknowledged that such a countywide shift would be a major undertaking because many schools already face space constraints. Mason District, however, would not have to absorb that change while also adjusting to new start times.

She said the pilot could offer near-term relief to part of the community while giving FCPS staff evidence to guide a broader start-time decision in the coming years.