Petition: Later MCPS school start times

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:PG County Public Schools just voted to shift to the later start times this group is advocating for. So we'll get a front row seat to see how that works. If it's successful, then I suspect MCPS will follow suit. But if it's a debacle, then it'll set this movement back for some time.

You already have a test case in the region: Loudoun County. ES starts at 8:00, HS starts at 9:30. We love it.

That's the way of the future.

For Loudon perhaps but MCPS already found the best path forward for our needs. I'm sorry. I know parenting kids is hard.

We know it's hard for you to try to think of ways to actually give your child better, and while you think what you are doing is parenting is actually wanting to keep things the same for your convenience. You are not parenting. Sorry for your kids.

DP. I’m confused. Parents who are able to enforce bedtimes by restricting devices, etc, are somehow not parenting? 10pm still gives my child over 8 hours of sleep a night. We’re doing just fine.

I worry more about my students who are emailing me at midnight and 2am. Do you really think changing start times is going to miraculously get kids 8+ hours of sleep? No.

This is such a nonissue. If you aren’t going to talk to me about regulating device usage in the evenings and into the early hours of the morning, then the conversation about start times is pointless.

Get kids off devices and they’ll sleep. Done. I suspect even the “sleep experts” here will agree that getting rid of devices in the evening will help.

As others have pointed out, when you were a teen in ancient times and did not have devices, teens also did not sleep at 10pm. Maybe you were the only teen to do so. Sorry you don't believe in science.

The “sorry you don’t believe in science” nonsense throughout this thread just encourages eyerolls.

I believe teens need a lot of sleep. I don’t believe that it has to be specific, later hours.

What does Science say about device usage, huh? Would Science agree with me that device usage at night discourages sleep? I’m pretty darn sure it does. Why isn’t that a MAJOR part of this conversation? If we don’t tackle this, it’s not worth discussing later hours. What a colossal waste of time.

We know you don’t believe that, but the data collected by sleep experts says otherwise. Your intuition should not dictate policy.

Again: you didn’t bother to address device usage. The sleep experts you love to quote have also weighed in on that! I know addressing devices is inconvenient for you, but that is the bigger issue if we actually care about adolescents’ sleeping habits.

So don’t go quoting sleep experts if you aren’t going to quote what they also say: that device usage in the evening and at night is bad for sleep habits. If kids are up at 2am texting ANYWAY, your later start time doesn’t do much good.

If the advocates get their way and push back start times and we inevitably will see no improvement in student wellbeing because they're continuing to stay up on their devices, they'll act like this never could have been foreseen by anyone.

And yet study after study shows an overall improvement in student wellbeing with later high school start times.

The cool thing is if you just set your clocks ahead 2 hours they get the same benefits!

That wasn’t funny the first 20 times I was posted in this thread. Now it’s just pathetic.

I thought it was brilliant.

[Anonymous]

So glad MCPS handled this years ago and we can move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PG County Public Schools just voted to shift to the later start times this group is advocating for. So we'll get a front row seat to see how that works. If it's successful, then I suspect MCPS will follow suit. But if it's a debacle, then it'll set this movement back for some time.

You already have a test case in the region: Loudoun County. ES starts at 8:00, HS starts at 9:30. We love it.

That's the way of the future.

For Loudon perhaps but MCPS already found the best path forward for our needs. I'm sorry. I know parenting kids is hard.

We know it's hard for you to try to think of ways to actually give your child better, and while you think what you are doing is parenting is actually wanting to keep things the same for your convenience. You are not parenting. Sorry for your kids.

DP. I’m confused. Parents who are able to enforce bedtimes by restricting devices, etc, are somehow not parenting? 10pm still gives my child over 8 hours of sleep a night. We’re doing just fine.

I worry more about my students who are emailing me at midnight and 2am. Do you really think changing start times is going to miraculously get kids 8+ hours of sleep? No.

This is such a nonissue. If you aren’t going to talk to me about regulating device usage in the evenings and into the early hours of the morning, then the conversation about start times is pointless.

Get kids off devices and they’ll sleep. Done. I suspect even the “sleep experts” here will agree that getting rid of devices in the evening will help.

As others have pointed out, when you were a teen in ancient times and did not have devices, teens also did not sleep at 10pm. Maybe you were the only teen to do so. Sorry you don't believe in science.

The “sorry you don’t believe in science” nonsense throughout this thread just encourages eyerolls.

I believe teens need a lot of sleep. I don’t believe that it has to be specific, later hours.

What does Science say about device usage, huh? Would Science agree with me that device usage at night discourages sleep? I’m pretty darn sure it does. Why isn’t that a MAJOR part of this conversation? If we don’t tackle this, it’s not worth discussing later hours. What a colossal waste of time.

We know you don’t believe that, but the data collected by sleep experts says otherwise. Your intuition should not dictate policy.

Again: you didn’t bother to address device usage. The sleep experts you love to quote have also weighed in on that! I know addressing devices is inconvenient for you, but that is the bigger issue if we actually care about adolescents’ sleeping habits.

So don’t go quoting sleep experts if you aren’t going to quote what they also say: that device usage in the evening and at night is bad for sleep habits. If kids are up at 2am texting ANYWAY, your later start time doesn’t do much good.

If the advocates get their way and push back start times and we inevitably will see no improvement in student wellbeing because they're continuing to stay up on their devices, they'll act like this never could have been foreseen by anyone.

And yet study after study shows an overall improvement in student wellbeing with later high school start times.

The cool thing is if you just set your clocks ahead 2 hours they get the same benefits!

That wasn’t funny the first 20 times I was posted in this thread. Now it’s just pathetic.

I thought it was brilliant.

We tried it and it actually works!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PG County Public Schools just voted to shift to the later start times this group is advocating for. So we'll get a front row seat to see how that works. If it's successful, then I suspect MCPS will follow suit. But if it's a debacle, then it'll set this movement back for some time.

You already have a test case in the region: Loudoun County. ES starts at 8:00, HS starts at 9:30. We love it.

That's the way of the future.

For Loudon perhaps but MCPS already found the best path forward for our needs. I'm sorry. I know parenting kids is hard.

We know it's hard for you to try to think of ways to actually give your child better, and while you think what you are doing is parenting is actually wanting to keep things the same for your convenience. You are not parenting. Sorry for your kids.

DP. I’m confused. Parents who are able to enforce bedtimes by restricting devices, etc, are somehow not parenting? 10pm still gives my child over 8 hours of sleep a night. We’re doing just fine.

I worry more about my students who are emailing me at midnight and 2am. Do you really think changing start times is going to miraculously get kids 8+ hours of sleep? No.

This is such a nonissue. If you aren’t going to talk to me about regulating device usage in the evenings and into the early hours of the morning, then the conversation about start times is pointless.

Get kids off devices and they’ll sleep. Done. I suspect even the “sleep experts” here will agree that getting rid of devices in the evening will help.

As others have pointed out, when you were a teen in ancient times and did not have devices, teens also did not sleep at 10pm. Maybe you were the only teen to do so. Sorry you don't believe in science.

The “sorry you don’t believe in science” nonsense throughout this thread just encourages eyerolls.

I believe teens need a lot of sleep. I don’t believe that it has to be specific, later hours.

What does Science say about device usage, huh? Would Science agree with me that device usage at night discourages sleep? I’m pretty darn sure it does. Why isn’t that a MAJOR part of this conversation? If we don’t tackle this, it’s not worth discussing later hours. What a colossal waste of time.

We know you don’t believe that, but the data collected by sleep experts says otherwise. Your intuition should not dictate policy.

Again: you didn’t bother to address device usage. The sleep experts you love to quote have also weighed in on that! I know addressing devices is inconvenient for you, but that is the bigger issue if we actually care about adolescents’ sleeping habits.

So don’t go quoting sleep experts if you aren’t going to quote what they also say: that device usage in the evening and at night is bad for sleep habits. If kids are up at 2am texting ANYWAY, your later start time doesn’t do much good.

If the advocates get their way and push back start times and we inevitably will see no improvement in student wellbeing because they're continuing to stay up on their devices, they'll act like this never could have been foreseen by anyone.

And yet study after study shows an overall improvement in student wellbeing with later high school start times.

The cool thing is if you just set your clocks ahead 2 hours they get the same benefits!

That wasn’t funny the first 20 times I was posted in this thread. Now it’s just pathetic.

I thought it was brilliant.

We tried it and it actually works!

And you can do the reverse when school times change to a later start. MCPS didn't "handle" anything years ago. Some adults inability to change is appalling.

[Anonymous]

Sign the petition!

[Anonymous]

Teens sleep later, it is just the way their bodies work. You all were like that once long ago. Signing the petition would allow the organizers to bring the topic to the BOE 10 years after it was last discussed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teens sleep later, it is just the way their bodies work. You all were like that once long ago. Signing the petition would allow the organizers to bring the topic to the BOE 10 years after it was last discussed.

I’m 52, and as a night person, that’s still the way my body works. Ideally, I’d sleep until about 10, spend a couple of hours waking up and getting ready, have a nice brunch, and be ready to kick into gear about 2:00 PM. However, rather than expecting the world to conform to my preferences, I have recognized that I need to adapt my schedule to integrate with everyone else.

When I was a teen, before I got my license, I had to leave the house a little before 6 to go to drive to work with my mom. I would wait in the car about 1 1/2 hours until my dad got off work from his night shift, hopefully in time to get me to school. It certainly wasn’t ideal for anyone (regardless of age), but it’s what our family needed to do at the time.

What the spoiled whiners here seem eager to ignore is that nobody’s life is perfect, but some people have bigger concerns. They might WANT their teens to have a later start time (although I bet most would stay up later and still be sleep deprived), but the families whose teens HAVE to work or look after younger siblings after school probably wouldn’t appreciate the later start when the family went hungry, homeless, or was split up because the county realized young children were left unattended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teens sleep later, it is just the way their bodies work. You all were like that once long ago. Signing the petition would allow the organizers to bring the topic to the BOE 10 years after it was last discussed.

They wasted MILLIONS OF DOLLARS of the school budget discussing and researching it last time. Meanwhile multiple high schools are crumbling.

Let it go snowflakes. It’s embarrassing.

Sports are after-school and in Fall and Spring it can get dark by 5:30pm. Games can’t start later unless you are willing to also pay for lights on all fields all high schools lol.

I mean you guys are just so so so so dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teens sleep later, it is just the way their bodies work. You all were like that once long ago. Signing the petition would allow the organizers to bring the topic to the BOE 10 years after it was last discussed.

They wasted MILLIONS OF DOLLARS of the school budget discussing and researching it last time. Meanwhile multiple high schools are crumbling.

Let it go snowflakes. It’s embarrassing.

Sports are after-school and in Fall and Spring it can get dark by 5:30pm. Games can’t start later unless you are willing to also pay for lights on all fields all high schools lol.

I mean you guys are just so so so so dumb.

Argument around outdoor sports is so so so so dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teens sleep later, it is just the way their bodies work. You all were like that once long ago. Signing the petition would allow the organizers to bring the topic to the BOE 10 years after it was last discussed.

They wasted MILLIONS OF DOLLARS of the school budget discussing and researching it last time. Meanwhile multiple high schools are crumbling.

Let it go snowflakes. It’s embarrassing.

Sports are after-school and in Fall and Spring it can get dark by 5:30pm. Games can’t start later unless you are willing to also pay for lights on all fields all high schools lol.

I mean you guys are just so so so so dumb.

Argument around outdoor sports is so so so so dumb.

I’m not the outdoor sports poster, but I noticed you are ignoring my earlier post about teens who have to work or look after siblings. What’s your response to that argument?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PG County Public Schools just voted to shift to the later start times this group is advocating for. So we'll get a front row seat to see how that works. If it's successful, then I suspect MCPS will follow suit. But if it's a debacle, then it'll set this movement back for some time.

You already have a test case in the region: Loudoun County. ES starts at 8:00, HS starts at 9:30. We love it.

Good for Loudoun county. I’m a little shocked that they follow the science more than Montgomery County

Because every single field in Loudoun has lighted fields. Their games are at 6:30pm at night instead of 3:15 or 3:45pm.

So the kids go to school until 4:30pm and if have extra curriculars they aren’t getting home until 7pm. If they have a game, they aren’t getting home until 9:30-10pm.

Students that have outside school obligations such as band, gymnastics, travel sports, club teams, etc… hate their schedule as they are the only county that can’t make afternoon or early evening practices.

And none of them can babysit as the kids now get home before them. Parents do not like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teens sleep later, it is just the way their bodies work. You all were like that once long ago. Signing the petition would allow the organizers to bring the topic to the BOE 10 years after it was last discussed.

They wasted MILLIONS OF DOLLARS of the school budget discussing and researching it last time. Meanwhile multiple high schools are crumbling.

Let it go snowflakes. It’s embarrassing.

Sports are after-school and in Fall and Spring it can get dark by 5:30pm. Games can’t start later unless you are willing to also pay for lights on all fields all high schools lol.

I mean you guys are just so so so so dumb.

Argument around outdoor sports is so so so so dumb.

How is that? Enlighten us on how outdoor practices and games can run on unlighted fields when school gets done at 4:30 and the sun sets by 6:30 in March and October and 5:30 in November.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teens sleep later, it is just the way their bodies work. You all were like that once long ago. Signing the petition would allow the organizers to bring the topic to the BOE 10 years after it was last discussed.

I’m 52, and as a night person, that’s still the way my body works. Ideally, I’d sleep until about 10, spend a couple of hours waking up and getting ready, have a nice brunch, and be ready to kick into gear about 2:00 PM. However, rather than expecting the world to conform to my preferences, I have recognized that I need to adapt my schedule to integrate with everyone else.

When I was a teen, before I got my license, I had to leave the house a little before 6 to go to drive to work with my mom. I would wait in the car about 1 1/2 hours until my dad got off work from his night shift, hopefully in time to get me to school. It certainly wasn’t ideal for anyone (regardless of age), but it’s what our family needed to do at the time.

What the spoiled whiners here seem eager to ignore is that nobody’s life is perfect, but some people have bigger concerns. They might WANT their teens to have a later start time (although I bet most would stay up later and still be sleep deprived), but the families whose teens HAVE to work or look after younger siblings after school probably wouldn’t appreciate the later start when the family went hungry, homeless, or was split up because the county realized young children were left unattended.

This is wonderfully said. Thank you!

It’s refreshing to see a logical post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PG County Public Schools just voted to shift to the later start times this group is advocating for. So we'll get a front row seat to see how that works. If it's successful, then I suspect MCPS will follow suit. But if it's a debacle, then it'll set this movement back for some time.

You already have a test case in the region: Loudoun County. ES starts at 8:00, HS starts at 9:30. We love it.

Good for Loudoun county. I’m a little shocked that they follow the science more than Montgomery County

Because every single field in Loudoun has lighted fields. Their games are at 6:30pm at night instead of 3:15 or 3:45pm.

So the kids go to school until 4:30pm and if have extra curriculars they aren’t getting home until 7pm. If they have a game, they aren’t getting home until 9:30-10pm.

Students that have outside school obligations such as band, gymnastics, travel sports, club teams, etc… hate their schedule as they are the only county that can’t make afternoon or early evening practices.

And none of them can babysit as the kids now get home before them. Parents do not like it.

Loudoun parent here and every single one of your points is wrong. And most parents love our common sense schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PG County Public Schools just voted to shift to the later start times this group is advocating for. So we'll get a front row seat to see how that works. If it's successful, then I suspect MCPS will follow suit. But if it's a debacle, then it'll set this movement back for some time.

You already have a test case in the region: Loudoun County. ES starts at 8:00, HS starts at 9:30. We love it.

Good for Loudoun county. I’m a little shocked that they follow the science more than Montgomery County

Because every single field in Loudoun has lighted fields. Their games are at 6:30pm at night instead of 3:15 or 3:45pm.

So the kids go to school until 4:30pm and if have extra curriculars they aren’t getting home until 7pm. If they have a game, they aren’t getting home until 9:30-10pm.

Students that have outside school obligations such as band, gymnastics, travel sports, club teams, etc… hate their schedule as they are the only county that can’t make afternoon or early evening practices.

And none of them can babysit as the kids now get home before them. Parents do not like it.

Loudoun parent here and every single one of your points is wrong. And most parents love our common sense schedule.

Have you talked to most parents? (And what do the students think?)