Ohio County Board of Education Still Looking at Later Start Times for Wheeling Park High School
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WHEELING - Ohio County Schools is once again considering later start times for students at Wheeling Park High School, and one idea is that all schools start the day 35 minutes later.
The subject was discussed at Monday night's board meeting.
"Our starting time committee has met, and will continue to meet until we have something we can bring to the board," Superintendent Kim Miller told board members. "We are trying to get it so they have a better ability to sleep longer without having a huge financial burden to the county."
Miller said the committee has been looking at "flipping and sliding the schedule" and what that would like for each school.
Board member David Croft added that there is presently a bill before the West Virginia Legislature that would prohibit schools from starting before 7:45 a.m. WPHS presently begins the day at 7:25 a.m.
"If we're going to lead (in establishing a later start time), we should start now," he said.
David Crumm, the school district's director of operations, explained an option of having all schools in the school district start at least 35 minutes later each day. Under this plan, WPHS would still be the first school to start the day. WPHS would begin at 8 a.m. and end the day at 3:05 p.m.
But those schools starting the latest wouldn't end the day until after 4 p.m.
Elm Grove Elementary School wouldn't begin the day until 9:50 a.m., with dismissal there at 4:20 a.m. Bethlehem and Woodsdale elementary schools would commence at 9:45 a.m. and conclude at 4:15 p.m.
Bus routes would remain as they are, and no new buses would need to be purchased or additional drivers hired under the 35-minute plan, Crumm said. There would be no additional costs incurred.
Extra time is presently built into each school day so that students achieve the overall number of hours in the classroom even if they have to miss a large number of days due to inclement weather.
The committee has established parameters that would involve perhaps changing the length of the school day to address start times. These parameters are being passed on for study to Edulog - the same company who reviewed Ohio County Schools start times and bus route data in 2022 - for further analysis.
The parameters state elementary and middle schools could start no earlier than 7:45 a.m. and no later than 9 a.m. Dismissal could be no later than 3:45 p.m.
For the elementary schools, the length of the day would have to be at least six hours and 15 minutes, and no longer than six hours and 50 minutes.
The middle school day would have a minimum length of six hours and 30 minutes, and could not exceed seven hours.
The high school requirements, as written by the committee, are tighter. The high school day would have to be at least seven hours long, and couldn't exceed seven hours and five minutes. The day could start at WPHS no earlier than 8:15 a.m, and dismissal would have to occur by 3:30 p.m., under the parameters set by the committee.
Edulog was paid $10,000 for the first round of analysis it did in 2022. This new round comes with a price tag that could exceed $25,000 based on which research options the school district selects.
Board member Molly Aderholt has been pushing for later start times at WPHS, citing medical studies that the later hour of sleep is a benefit to teenagers and their biorhythms.
In other matters, the board accepted the resignation of Micah Farmer, a vocational career and technology welding teacher at WPHS. Farmer, 53, of Wheeling, was arrested last week on one felony charge of sexual abuse of a minor 16 years or older by a parent, guardian, or custodian.
The board is also in the process of considering the renewal of Miller's contract, and preliminary discussion about the contract took place during an executive session Monday night.
"We're going to revisit this sometime down the road," board president Andy Garber said following the discussion. He said the matter would come up at a future meeting.
Miller's four-year contract expires June 30.
The board's next meeting is set for 6 p.m. on Feb. 12 at the board office, 2203 National Road, Elm Grove.