FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT
education and nutrition. Students who eat regular,
healthy meals are less likely to be tired, are more
attentive in class, and retain more information. To help
support this program, individuals or organizations that
would like to make a charitable donation can contact
an individual school’s front office and ask to contribute
to their Angel Fund.
I
t’s hard to believe the end of the school year is
already here. I am so pleased with what we’ve
accomplished this year. I would like to highlight some
events in our district before looking forward to an
exciting 2019-2020 school year.
In March, our students participated in three annual
Volusia Fitness Festivals, in which more than 1,800
Volusia public school students, grades 4-8, were
involved. These festivals highlighted the fitness abilities
students have developed over the course of the school
year. Students competed against similarly-aged
students from other schools. The individual events,
some of which are part of the Presidential Fitness
Challenge, included the 50-yard dash, shuttle run, mile
relay, standing long jump, pull-ups and sit-and-reach.
Volusia County Schools now has Angel Funds where
members of the community can help bring students’
negative meal accounts into good standing. Funding
for meals is available for students who are eligible for
free or reduced-price meals, but meals for students
who do not qualify for the program are not funded.
Individuals and charitable organizations can donate
money to a school’s “Angel Fund” to help repay
student meal debt. Money donated to angel funds are
distributed equitably to students with an outstanding
meal debt. We strive to give our students the best
The school board convened on Thursday, March
28th to determine a change of schedule for all schools
that would facilitate handling many factors including
a need to build in more time between bus routes to
avoid late buses at the middle school level and the
addition of 30 minutes to the elementary student day.
We believe the later start time for High School will also
be beneficial. According to the American Academy
of Pediatrics , middle and high schools should start at
8:30 a.m. or later to give students the opportunity to
get the amount of sleep they need. With these several
ideas in mind, the Volusia County School board voted
to change school start times for next year to:
•Elementary 7:50 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.,
•Middle 9:30 a.m. - 4:15 p.m.,
•High School 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
These times will be effective in August 2019, for the
start of the 2019-2020 school year. The School Board
developed this schedule by modifying the start time
committee’s option #1 after reviewing the results of the
survey. We understand that later Middle School start
and end times may be challenging for some families.
Some options being considered are morning tutoring
and offering more clubs for Middle Schools to help
families transition to the later start time.
Thank you and enjoy this edition of Volusia
Parent Magazine.
Thank you,
JAMES T. RUSSELL, SUPERINTENDENT
OF SCHOOLS
VIS IT U S ONLI NE AT WWW.PARE NTM AGAZINE FLORIDA .COM
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