The Ohio County Board of Education, at its meeting set for today, could vote on whether to move its school start times a half-hour later for each school, elementary through high school, in the county.

That shouldn’t happen — for a number of reasons.

Before we even get into pros and cons of the schedule adjustments, let’s talk about the first reason that vote shouldn’t happen — the timing.

This vote comes in the final meeting of this school board. When they meet again in July, the board will be different. Molly Aderholt, the board member who has rightly championed the schedule change for years, will be gone. A new board member with a different take on start times, Jerry Ames, will take her place.

This is a vote that should be left for the next board, not rushed to get in under the gun.

That brings us deeper into the discussion of the merits of this schedule change. The new schedule feels like a rushed decision, despite years of discussion on the matter. It’s presented as a simple change — every school starts a half-hour later.

Proponents say the later start time will allow students at Wheeling Park High School to learn better. The science backs up that idea. Teenagers’ body clocks make them more alert later in the day.

But it’s all the other changes that make this plan unworkable.

According to the proposed new schedule, Bethlehem and Middle Creek elementary schools would start each day at 9:40 a.m. Middle Creek will dismiss at 4 p.m. and Bethlehem will dismiss at 4:10 p.m. For the vast majority of households with two working parents, how will children get to and from school?

With the new schedule, eight of Ohio County’s 15 public schools would begin at 9 a.m. or later. That’s ridiculous and likely would end of costing families money.

Tessa Weisenborn, director of Laughlin Memorial Chapel, offered thoughts on this topic at the last school board meeting. She said 68% of families participating in afterschool programs there reported that later school start and dismissal times would affect their employment schedules.

And in the one meeting between the announcement of the proposal and its potential vote, a number of potentially affected parties said the start times need not change.

If the Ohio County Board of Education wants to do what is best, then this will not come up for a vote today. However, the discussion must continue. We cannot have high-school-aged students boarding a bus at 6 a.m. and then claim we care about their health.

If the school district ultimately decides on a change, it needs to be a big swing, not the current half-measure that creates the least impact on the district’s infrastructure. If they need to purchase a fleet of school buses and hire an army of new bus drivers, then that’s what must be done.

The prudent decision, then, is for the board not even to bring this to a vote today. Yes, those wanting to see that change have been waiting a long time for it to happen, but they can wait a little longer to ensure half-measures don’t rule the day.