GMHS Students Get to Hit the Snooze Bar for 15 More Minutes

High school students in the City of Falls Church will get to snooze at home an extra 15 minutes in the morning according to a new comprehensive school start time revision adopted by the School Board here Tuesday.

Completion by September of a new middle school now under construction on the George Mason High School campus has required the revision to avoid traffic congestion.

While many parents expressed concern over proposed revisions at public hearings held by the School Board in recent months, the School Board relied on the work of a 27-member committee to explore and make recommendations on the issue.

The committee was composed of parents, teachers, principals and administrators, and worked for months on the issue leading up to Tuesday's vote.

The final decision altered the starting times of all the City's four schools by 15 minutes. The new school times, to go into effect in the fall, are as follows:

• George Mason High School (grades 8 through 12): 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School (grades five through seven). 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

• Thomas Jefferson Elementary (grades two through four). 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

• Mt. Daniel Elementary (kindergarten and first grade). 8:45 a.m. to 3:20 p.m.

In approving these times, the school board asked the school staff to monitor the traffic and other effects of these new times carefully to see if further adjustments should be made in the future.