Montgomery Co. holds public forums on changes to school start times

WASHINGTON – The first of four public meetings on changing school start times gets underway at 7 p.m. Monday night at Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville.

Montgomery County Public School Superintendent Dr. Joshua Starr has recommended that the school system change start times for the 2015-2016 academic year.

Under the proposal, high school start times would be pushed back by 50 minutes, meaning classes would start at 8:15 a.m. instead of the current time of 7:25 a.m.

Middle schools would start ten minutes earlier, with classes beginning at 7:45 a.m. instead of 7:55 a.m.

Elementary schools would keep the same start time but the school day would be extended by 30 minutes.

The proposed changes come as the result of public proposals and the 2013 Bell Times Work Group.

The public input sessions will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on the following dates and locations.

  • Monday, October 28: Paint Branch High School, 14121 Old Columbia Pike in Burtonsville
  • Monday, December 16: Richard Montgomery High School, 250 Richard Montgomery Drive in Rockville
  • Monday, January 6: Seneca Valley High School, 19401 Crystal Rock Drive in Germantown
  • Monday, February 10: Montgomery Blair High School, 51 University Blvd., East, in Silver Spring

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WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report. Follow @kateryanWTOP and @WTOP on Twitter.

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