The Harford County Board of Education is looking into what it would take to swap start times for elementary and high schools, with several members saying a switch could benefit attendance, morale and academic performance.

School board president Aaron Poynton said Monday during a work session that board members have had informal conversations about swapping start times and he wants to do a “temperature check” to see if board members are in favor of starting the process that has taken other Maryland counties years to implement.

Currently, Harford public high schools start at 7 a.m., while some elementary schools start at 9 a.m. and others at 9:30 a.m. Officials batted around the idea of allowing high schools to start at 9 a.m. while switching elementary students to 7 a.m. Board members spoke generally in favor of the swap, citing student benefits such as increased attendance, better academic performance and an overall boost in student morale based on reports from school districts who have already implemented a switch.

Anne Arundel County Public Schools implemented 8:30 a.m. start times for high school students in 2022 with few issues. In August 2023, Howard County Public Schools attempted to push start times for high schoolers from 7:25 a.m. to 8 a.m., but less than a month later, after numerous difficulties related to bus transportation, officials walked back the changes. Howard’s high schools now start at 7:50 a.m.

Transportation issues related to bus driver shortages throughout the state remain a concern, and Harford Superintendent Sean Bulson acknowledged the logistical challenge that swapping school start times would create. Reworking bus routes, considering the effect on afterschool programs such as sports, daycare and other services are all part of the challenges, he said.

“I think it would take a lot of work as a system to push through the obvious challenges we confront but toward the end, improving student achievement and creating a healthy environment, I think, would be a worthwhile effort,” Bulson said.

Harford public school officials said they are unsure if logistics associated with swapping start times would have any financial impact on the district. They said an analysis would need to be done to see if things such as remapping bus routes would require more funding to cover additional bus drivers, or if the swap could save money.

Student member of the board Sasha Pazoki, a senior at the Science and Math Academy at Aberdeen High School, said she would be in favor of starting high schools later to allow students to establish better sleep schedules. She said many high school students she knows wake up as early as 4 or 5 a.m., which causes them to nap after school and disrupt their sleep routine. She agreed a later start time could help academic performance.

The first step of implementing the change, according to tExecutive Director of Elementary School Instruction and Performance Dyann Mack, is gathering input from the community. Mack said in order for the time swap to work, there needs to be an “appetite” from community members who will ultimately be impacted by the switch.

Board members and school officials agreed that a survey would be conducted and a task force would be created to analyze impacts of new school start times. A timeline for the survey is unknown.

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