Just 10 more minutes
Move MNPS high school start times from 7:25 a.m. to 7:35 a.m.
That is the whole ask. Ten minutes. The district already made a bigger change than this one.
What just changed
They already moved it once
In February 2026, the MNPS Board moved high school start times from 7:05 to 7:25 a.m. Every board member voted yes. The new times started on August 11, 2026.
They did their homework first. A study ran from fall 2025 to February 2026. The mayor’s office helped. So did a transport company called 4MATIV. Two surveys got more than 23,000 answers. There were town halls too.
At the vote, board members said 20 minutes was not the perfect number. It was what the buses could handle. That is where this petition starts.
The bus math
The buses already took a bigger hit
Buses run each route three times a morning. The gap between runs used to be 55 minutes. To make the new times work, MNPS cut it to 45. The whole district handled that in one year.
Minutes between school start times
Moving high schools to 7:35 would cut that gap by 10 more minutes, down to 35. It is the same size step they just took.
So the buses can bend. They just did. The real question is whether 45 minutes is the floor, or only where the work stopped.
Why later helps
They already agree later is better
At 7:05 a.m., Nashville high schools started earlier than almost any in the country. Teen body clocks shift later during puberty. Early bells cost teens sleep they cannot get back. Later bells are linked to better attendance and better grades. They help teen mental health too.
MNPS used that research to explain the change. We are not arguing with them. We agree. We just want a bit more of it.
316signatures · online and paper
316 of 500 signatures
The petition
Sign it
For MNPS high school students, families, and staff. Your name never shows up on this page. Here is what we do with your info.
How this works
What happens after you sign
A petition is not a vote. Here is the real path, with nothing skipped.
Collect names
About three months, online and on paper. We start at Valor Collegiate. Then other MNPS high schools.
Speak at a board meeting
The Board meets the 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month, 5 to 7 p.m., at 2601 Bransford Avenue. You sign up by noon the Monday before. Each speaker gets about two minutes.
Get a board member to sponsor it
Speaking does not put anything on the agenda. A board member has to bring it forward. After we speak, we ask the members who have shown interest in start times.
A vote, when we get there
The Board votes once a member sponsors it. A signature is not a vote by itself — it is what gives a board member a reason to say yes.
We collect names on paper at school too. Those go into the same total.
Straight answers
The hard questions
Didn’t they just study this?
Yes, and they did it well. We are not asking them to start over. That study looked at the whole district schedule. This asks one small question about one group of schools. We take their answer as our starting point.
Can the buses really do it?
We do not know yet. We are asking MNPS Transportation right now, through the Family Information Center. We want to know if the 45 minute gap has any room left. If they say it does not, that is a real answer and we will put it on this page.
Why only 10 minutes?
Because 10 is easy to say yes to. A bigger ask reopens the whole schedule they just spent six months building. That would need its own study. The buses have already handled a 10 minute change.
What about charter and magnet schools?
They did not have to follow the 2026 times. They would not have to follow this one either. Students and staff there can still sign.