POLK COUNTY, Fla. — As Polk County Public Schools brainstormed a way to shift school start times, Norma Tutt didn’t like what she heard.
“I just don’t like it,” she said. “It’s a downward spiral. That is my opinion. I just think it’s going to be a downward spiral for the whole thing.”
The Davenport mom of two students thinks there isn’t a way the district can change school start times without spending millions of dollars more on new buses and drivers, spiking the demand for daycare, and causing upheaval for families like hers.
However, the district says it has no choice because of a new state law designed to help middle and high school students get more sleep.
Starting in the 2026 academic year, the law will require middle school classes to start no earlier than 8 a.m. and high school classes at 8:30 a.m. or later.
Right now, Polk County high schoolers start their day at 7 a.m.
Simply delaying the start of high school would trigger a chain reaction in Polk County and other districts. It might move up elementary start times, put a strain on the availability of buses and drivers, complicate some high schoolers’ after-school jobs and activities, and put even more demand on local daycares.
Over the past several weeks, the district and its advisory council hosted five town hall meetings to get feedback from parents and others.
Now, leaders like Ryan DelliVeniri will start drawing up possible solutions.
The district might create different start times for different parts of the county or transport elementary and middle school students together in one set of buses and middle and high school students together in another.
“It’s most likely going to be a cornucopia of a few of these options that are woven into the final solution that’s rolled out,” said DelliVeniri, with the District Advisory Council, at the final town hall meeting on Monday evening in Davenport.
In an online survey, the district also asks parents if it should fight to overturn the state law. DelliVeniri isn’t sure that option is possible.
“That’s also not an option that we can directly control,” he said.
But parents like Tutt hope the district will try.
“I think Polk County should challenge it,” she said. “And if it went nowhere, at least they knew how we felt.”
Even though the in-person input meetings have concluded, the district might host virtual sessions in the future. Specific dates and times have yet to be provided.
