WASHINGTON 鈥� For Patricia O鈥橬eill, it鈥檚 New Year鈥檚 Day.
The president of the Montgomery County Board of Education, O鈥橬eill wished everyone 鈥淗appy New Year!鈥� during an interview with 蜜桃视频app on Monday morning, the first day of classes for 2015-2016.
The big change for the new year involves school start times. High school and middle school classes will start 20 minutes later than previously; elementary school days will start 10 minutes later and end 20 minutes later. The high school day now runs from 7:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; middle schools, 8:15 a.m. to 3 p.m.; elementary schools in Tier 1, from 9 a.m. to 3:25 p.m., and elementary schools in Tier 2, from 9:25 a.m. to 3:50 p.m.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very excited about this,鈥� O鈥橬eill says, adding that it has to do with reports that later start times fit better with kids鈥� sleep schedules.
鈥淲e wish we could have done more to reach the 8:30 mark recommended by the Centers for Disease Control, but this is a good first step.鈥�
The school system also is extending its outreach to Spanish-speaking parents, O鈥橬eill says, offering a Spanish-language app and a Spanish-language website.
鈥淥ur population is increasingly diverse,鈥� O鈥橬eill says, 鈥渁nd we want to communicate as much as we can with our parents.鈥�
Montgomery County made national news last school year by removing the religious names from certain holidays, and O鈥橬eill says the board is working on a new calendar policy that reflects those changes and more.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very proud of our work on our calendar policy. We鈥檝e worked closely with the faith community this year.鈥�
She says the school system recently published a guide to religious diversity available to all parents in multiple languages.
The school system鈥檚 website includes a section that shows all the county鈥檚 defined 鈥�,鈥� which O鈥橬eill describes as 鈥渁 more inclusive commemoration calendar of many, many, many religious holidays.鈥�
She says the board will take tentative action on a new calendar Sept. 8.
