Sipping from bottles of water, munching on pizza and cookies, nearly 30 students from high schools in the Lee and Mount Vernon districts stayed after school to talk about their schools.
Organized by Jessie Miller, the student representative to the Fairfax County School Board, the students had gathered to talk about later start times, their choices of elective courses and what high schools will be like in the future during the first student government forum at Hayfield Secondary School.
From the start, the students proved they were eager to share their opinions.
"I think it's tough for a lot of kids, they don't really wake up until a certain time," said South County Secondary School senior Jay Rowley, who was among the majority of students who urged School Board members Brad Center (Lee) and Dan Storck (Mount Vernon) to do what they could to provide later start times for high school students.
"People who want to do sports will still have to do homework when they get home, and they'll be up later to get it all done," said Hayfield student Elyse Woods. "There's a problem there, they need to rest and get their energy up for the next day."
ONE STUDENT, Mohamed Chouat from West Potomac High School, asked the board members where they were in terms of deciding if moving the start time back to even 8 a.m. would be possible.
"Our bus schedule is our biggest concern," said Center, who explained that drivers often have to make three runs each day, many times to schools in different pyramids.
"The question is, how can we design our transportation system to do later start times and reduce the cost?" he asked. "Right now, the board is ready to start to decide if this something we want to do."
Storck said the board spends a "lot of time" discussing schedule modifications, and priorities vary from member to member if this is the best way to spend their funds.
"Starting school at 7:20 a.m. is outrageous," he said. "The other side is, you want to do other things with your time after school. We hear different sides of this issue all the time. It's not an issue where there's one clear, obvious answer."
Changes to the transportation system will have to be made to accommodate earlier start times, but before that can happen, more drivers need to be hired to provide the ability to make some changes, they said.
"We students are the future," Mohamed Chouat said. "Anything that happens in the future will be because of us students. The money issue will always be there. If students can come to school later and be more successful, I think you should support that."
Second on the agenda of topics was what students envisioned the high school of the future would include, from classes to appearances. The discussion quickly became centered around grades, class choices and the need for more electives.
"When students get their report cards, most of the time they're graded between A and F, with the exception of E," said Edison High School student Samuel Baumgartner. "They seem motivated toward a grade point average number. If students are only going to school for their GPA, it's like their income. They're not motivated by the actual learning."
SOME STUDENTS debated the number of core classes they're required to take, saying the demands don't allow time for the students to explore other interests which may help them decide what career path to take in college.
"If you have too many electives and you have to write a paper in one of them, but you don't have the practice from English classes, that's a waste of time," said Matt Volchansky, a Hayfield student.
Some schools offer or mandate internships, in lieu of elective classes, to help students expand their interests, said Kathleen Wheeler of West Potomac.
Changing the focus slightly, Storck told the students the School Board is considering a plan that would allow a larger variety of electives to be offered within each group of high schools. If a student wanted to take a course not offered at his or her base school, the new plan would allow them to take a course at a nearby school instead of having to travel halfway across the county.
"I understand the concept of grouping courses, but doesn't that make it difficult to get the total number of credits you need to graduate when you have to miss two periods to get to the academy and back?" asked Anav Kernus, a South County student.
"That's part of the reason we're talking about this," Storck said. "We're hoping to expand the amount of time you have to study what you like."
Toward the end of the meeting, when Storck, Center and Miller allowed the students to pick their own topics of concern, many students from Hayfield and South County were eager to know what the outcome of a boundary study involving their two schools might be when a decision is made in two weeks.
One Hayfield student went so far as to lay blame on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for mismanaging building permits.
"The county should help out," said Matt Volchansky. "They're giving all these permits to build all these houses without thinking about where the students will go."
Center said he was pleased with how the forum, the first of its kind, was conducted.
"I hear from a different set of people than students every day," he said. "I think it's refreshing to hear the student perspective."