Ohio County committee recommends 30‑minute countywide shift and a Wheeling Park scheduling option to push high‑school starts later

MOLLY ADDERHOLT, board member and chair of the start‑times committee, presented the committee’s final recommendations at a May 29, 2026 Ohio County Schools work session, urging the board to act on research showing later high‑school start times benefit adolescent sleep and safety.

The committee offered two principal options. The primary recommendation would push every school’s start and end times back by 30 minutes (for example, moving Wheeling Park High School to an 8:00 a.m. start under the committee’s baseline), while allowing some later‑starting elementary schools to shorten their afternoon extension by 15–25 minutes to reduce the late‑day impact. Committee modeling by RouteWise showed that configuration would require no additional morning routes and would raise afternoon routes from 41 to 44, likely creating demand for a small number of part‑time afternoon drivers.

The second, lower‑disruption option would apply only to Wheeling Park High School and would not change bus routes. Under that plan, the school would offer scheduling flexibility — including first‑period lunches — so students who can drive or be driven could arrive later and obtain more sleep. Committee members said that approach would help many students but would not reach bus‑dependent students, which is why the committee recommended combining both measures if feasible.

Medical testimony underpinned the recommendations. Dr. Rayna Burke, an emergency medicine physician and parent who participated with the committee, summarized research showing adolescents’ circadian rhythms shift later in puberty and cited studies reporting increases of roughly 30–77 minutes of nightly sleep when schools start later. “There’s an epidemic of sleep deprivation that negatively impacts the health of our adolescent students,” Burke said, linking later starts to better cognition, attendance, mental‑health outcomes and, in some studies, large reductions in motor‑vehicle crashes. The committee also cited the American Academy of Pediatrics’ policy statement and noted that Florida and California have passed laws requiring later high‑school starts.

Committee member Scott Pettit described the trade‑offs in multiple RouteWise routing scenarios. He said the science favors an order in which elementary schools start earlier and high schools start last, but that the most scientifically ideal schedules would require additional buses and greater operational cost and complexity. “There’s no easy solution,” Pettit said, noting the committee ran hundreds of permutations before landing on options intended to balance student health with practical constraints.

Board members pressed on operational and equity concerns. Chair (speaker 2) flagged a district cash‑flow gap — “we’re $10,000,000 behind in our cash receipts” — and asked whether the district could afford new routes. Transportation staff (Mr. Crum) said the district currently is short roughly three drivers and has relied on maintenance and other staff to cover routes; he warned that recruiting part‑time afternoon drivers would be challenging and estimated an example halftime seasonal job at about $15,000. Board members also questioned impacts on elementary instructional time and the difficulty some families would face securing before‑care or alternate transportation if elementary bell times shifted earlier or later.

On childcare and late‑starting elementary schools (Elm Grove, Woodsdale, among others), board members and staff asked RouteWise to run targeted analyses to see whether narrowing bell‑time spreads could avoid adding routes or otherwise reduce burdens on families. RouteWise consultant Dustin Kress and the district said the vendor’s contract has been extended so the district can run additional scenarios.

The board did not vote on a policy at the May 29 session. Instead, the board directed the superintendent’s team to analyze the committee recommendations, circulate school‑level schedules/spreadsheets showing the modeled scenarios, and return with formal recommendations at the June 22 board meeting. The committee and administration will also consider targeted scenarios for the two late‑starting elementary schools and further examine driver staffing and after‑school activity impacts.

What’s next: Administration will review the committee’s two recommendations, run additional RouteWise scenarios as requested, and present a recommendation to the board at the June 22 meeting for possible action.

Sources: Presentations and Q&A at the Ohio County Schools work session, May 29, 2026. Direct quotes are from committee members and presenters who spoke during the session.