The Virginia Beach City Public School system is entertaining the idea of changing high school start and end times from 7:20-2:10 to 9:30-4:20.  The Roaring Gazette interviewed several people for their thoughts on this.

When asked for their initial reaction to this change, Mrs. Van Petegem, Algebra teacher, commented, “I don’t think it’s a good idea because it will affect a lot of students with jobs.”  Many students expressed a similar sentiment.

Cass Price said “I don’t like it. It’s not really efficient for people who have jobs, afterschool sports, and a lot of homework.”

Sarea Warrick said, “I think it’s stupid, us highschoolers are way older [and] we have jobs.” 

However, Abby O’Leary cheerfully replied, “I [would] like it because I function better later in the day and become more proactive.”

When asked how the time change positively impact their lives, all four interviewees replied, “getting more sleep!”.  When asked about possible negative impacts, Mrs. Van Petegem said: “It would put me on a different schedule than my husband.” 

Sarea and Cass expressed concerns about workload, managing extracurriculars, and watching younger siblings.

“Will the City of Virginia Beach be affected?”  All interviewees said a resounding yes. Mrs. Van Petegem, Cass, and Abby all talked about the possibility that fewer teens could work after school.

Overall, Cass and Sarea don’t support the change, Abby does, and Mrs. Van Petegem is unsure.