Petition: Later MCPS school start times

[Anonymous]

Can someone post the link to the current petition?

[Anonymous]

Later? My kid's school doesn't start until nearly 9:30!

If we're going to push back high school, we need more buses to at least avoid needing to do two runs for elementary schools.

[Anonymous]

If they start taking away the buses for magnet, they can free up buses! There are non-magnet HS students getting on a school bus as early as 6:35am when their school does not start until 7:30. The HSers need their sleep!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Later? My kid's school doesn't start until nearly 9:30!

If we're going to push back high school, we need more buses to at least avoid needing to do two runs for elementary schools.

I don't really think they mean later for the elementary kids starting at 9:30. My kids had that start time. Adjusting to needing to be on the bus at 6:55 a.m. (neighborhood high school!) is rough and will come sooner than you think.

[Anonymous]

High schoolers are only going to stay up later. They won't get any extra sleep. My high schooler already stays up so late doing homework. I can only imagine what would happen if he got home from after school activities even later than he does now because school doesn't start until later.

[Anonymous]

So many decisions are made based on free transportation. Snow days, flooded roads, start times, end times. It’s ridiculous. We need to do away with school buses, boost the public buses and make decisions based on what’s best for our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Later? My kid's school doesn't start until nearly 9:30!

If we're going to push back high school, we need more buses to at least avoid needing to do two runs for elementary schools.

How do you feel about that start time? My kids had it, and I can't even describe how difficult it made my life while they were in elementary school. Of course, I didn't work at home at all back then, which was part of the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Later? My kid's school doesn't start until nearly 9:30!

If we're going to push back high school, we need more buses to at least avoid needing to do two runs for elementary schools.

It is a petition for HS, but I've seen it and it does not grapple at all with any of the issues raised by the Bell Times Report. It makes a good case for the science behind teen sleep, but that doesn't answer the problems that have already been raised with making high schoolers start later. It's my opinion that MCPS won't meaningfully engage with this question until/unless someone comes up with some solutions for those barriers.

[Anonymous]

I haven't seen the petition. But doubt they will push it back more than 15 min for an average start time of 8a. Wasn't the start time before 7:30am 10years ago?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many decisions are made based on free transportation. Snow days, flooded roads, start times, end times. It’s ridiculous. We need to do away with school buses, boost the public buses and make decisions based on what’s best for our kids.

+1

[Anonymous]

THIS IS FOR SECONDARY STUDENTS ONLY.


https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/mcps-board-and-superintendent-please-wake-up-to#comments


I'm signing for my second kid. My first is in college now. He had a mental breakdown in 12th grade to which sleep deprivation contributed. Teenage brains tend to fall asleep later and wake up later. This is temporary, and it's part of their normal, healthy, development. His high school bus was at 6:30am. It was just terrible for his physical and mental health.

[Anonymous]

What is your ideal solution? MCPS will not consider buying more buses.

This debate happened sometime in 2016/17/18? At the time, I had hoped they would swap ES and HS (have ES start earlier and HS start later), but, it was basically a complete non-starter to switch ES to an early start and HS to a late start and keep MS the same. It was considered an equity issue then.

After much time and $ was spent exploring options they pushed back HS start times a very small amount (15 minutes maybe). It was a joke of a solution.

Also, there is no way the school board is going to address start times again when we are embroiled in a leadership struggle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High schoolers are only going to stay up later. They won't get any extra sleep. My high schooler already stays up so late doing homework. I can only imagine what would happen if he got home from after school activities even later than he does now because school doesn't start until later.

This, everything including activities would shift later and it’s an issue for kids who work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is your ideal solution? MCPS will not consider buying more buses.

This debate happened sometime in 2016/17/18? At the time, I had hoped they would swap ES and HS (have ES start earlier and HS start later), but, it was basically a complete non-starter to switch ES to an early start and HS to a late start and keep MS the same. It was considered an equity issue then.

After much time and $ was spent exploring options they pushed back HS start times a very small amount (15 minutes maybe). It was a joke of a solution.

Also, there is no way the school board is going to address start times again when we are embroiled in a leadership struggle.

Even if they buy more buses, who will drive them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Later? My kid's school doesn't start until nearly 9:30!

If we're going to push back high school, we need more buses to at least avoid needing to do two runs for elementary schools.

It is a petition for HS, but I've seen it and it does not grapple at all with any of the issues raised by the Bell Times Report. It makes a good case for the science behind teen sleep, but that doesn't answer the problems that have already been raised with making high schoolers start later. It's my opinion that MCPS won't meaningfully engage with this question until/unless someone comes up with some solutions for those barriers.

MCPS has bigger fish to fry at the moment. They should care but we all know. ES parents - yours will be in HS sooner than you know it!