Ugh....time to wake my 8th grader up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of these kids should be starting before 8 a.m. Period.

Most ADULTS at my office don't wander in until between 9 and 10.

you obviously don't work at the pentagon -- I'm guessing you are in law which tends to start late and stay late. Military folks consider 7:00 a.m. a "late schedule."

"Military folks" aren't 12-18 yr. old kids. Most adults aren't required to leave for their workplace at 6:20 am and adolescents shouldn't be either.

I agree with you on the bolded part. Read carefully. I never said anything about kids. I simply responded to your comment about your co-workers not coming in until 9 or 10 a.m. Nothing in my response related to the value or equity of MS or HS kids taking early buses.

I was the person who made the first post and I'm not entirely sure your point. Yes, some adults work early. They choose their career or employer. Military, you are right, tend to work earlier. But, I'm civilian (government) and we basically get to set our time to come in (NLT 10:00). Same was true at my prior agency. The vast majority are around 9 a.m. (and some later). The fact that we hold these kids - who need the sleep- to a harsher standard than adults are willing to hold themselves to is insane.

So true!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of these kids should be starting before 8 a.m. Period.

Most ADULTS at my office don't wander in until between 9 and 10.

you obviously don't work at the pentagon -- I'm guessing you are in law which tends to start late and stay late. Military folks consider 7:00 a.m. a "late schedule."

"Military folks" aren't 12-18 yr. old kids. Most adults aren't required to leave for their workplace at 6:20 am and adolescents shouldn't be either.

I agree with you on the bolded part. Read carefully. I never said anything about kids. I simply responded to your comment about your co-workers not coming in until 9 or 10 a.m. Nothing in my response related to the value or equity of MS or HS kids taking early buses.

I was the person who made the first post and I'm not entirely sure your point. Yes, some adults work early. They choose their career or employer. Military, you are right, tend to work earlier. But, I'm civilian (government) and we basically get to set our time to come in (NLT 10:00). Same was true at my prior agency. The vast majority are around 9 a.m. (and some later). The fact that we hold these kids - who need the sleep- to a harsher standard than adults are willing to hold themselves to is insane.

Exactly right. It is insane that my middle schooler (age 12) has to wake up at 5:30 am to catch her 6:20 bus. It was bad when the high schoolers had to and just as bad for the middle school kids.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone think there is a chance of them changing middle school times in the next 3 years? Either you ponying up even more money for buses or through another scenario?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In all the hoopla around the later HS start times and justification of the Millions $$$ spent, their was no mention of the MS students getting screwed. Bait and Switch. Karen Garza was so eager to get this through that there was no transparency about the downside, which should have been discussed. Certainly, no one raised this at our MS last year. When you add this to the high stakes budget BS, she's building a lot of distrust.

There was mention, but no one listened. I was extremely vocal about what would happen to middle schoolers. Not only are they getting up at some godforsaken hour, but they are now the group that will spend the most time alone, unsupervised in the afternoons until their parents can get home. And 13 is the perfect age for that, huh?

It's terrible. These poor kids.

I don't understand why people are saying it wasn't made clear that the MS students would get "screwed?" There were public meetings that you could attend. There was information on the main FCPS page with the four schedule options being considered. People were posting about it all over the place. I knew exactly what options they were considering and exactly which options were gaining the most traction because I attended those meetings, voice my opinion, and followed all the discussions on the matter.

I think a lot of people sat idly by thinking nothing would happen and then were suddenly surprised when it did. Too little too late people.

It'd be great if Garza could actually hold true to her promise to eventually move the middle schools to 8 o'clock as well but with the budget crisis we're facing? I don't see that happening anytime soon.

[Anonymous]

Yeah it has not been fun. But at least it's only a year then back to a more comfortable schedule next year, and until my younger one gets to middle school.
Our whole household has had to adjust. My new personal bedtime is 9 pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of these kids should be starting before 8 a.m. Period.

Most ADULTS at my office don't wander in until between 9 and 10.

you obviously don't work at the pentagon -- I'm guessing you are in law which tends to start late and stay late. Military folks consider 7:00 a.m. a "late schedule."

"Military folks" aren't 12-18 yr. old kids. Most adults aren't required to leave for their workplace at 6:20 am and adolescents shouldn't be either.

I agree with you on the bolded part. Read carefully. I never said anything about kids. I simply responded to your comment about your co-workers not coming in until 9 or 10 a.m. Nothing in my response related to the value or equity of MS or HS kids taking early buses.

I was the person who made the first post and I'm not entirely sure your point. Yes, some adults work early. They choose their career or employer. Military, you are right, tend to work earlier. But, I'm civilian (government) and we basically get to set our time to come in (NLT 10:00). Same was true at my prior agency. The vast majority are around 9 a.m. (and some later). The fact that we hold these kids - who need the sleep- to a harsher standard than adults are willing to hold themselves to is insane.

Exactly right. It is insane that my middle schooler (age 12) has to wake up at 5:30 am to catch her 6:20 bus. It was bad when the high schoolers had to and just as bad for the middle school kids.

Middle school students at the secondary schools have been doing this for decades. Get over yourself.

FWiW, I agree with you that MS should start later. Elem. school should be the ones to start early. They are the most likely to have parents escorting them to the bus stops or dropping off in kiss-n-ride. And it alleviates the need for morning SACC -- so parents can focus their child care needs on the afternoon when they probably need it anyway (rather than needing before AND after care). ES kids are more likely to go to bed early anyway. There would be more time for afternoon enrichment/sports/homework.

I don't think they went with that option b/c they knew that there were more ES parents than MS parents and people generally hate change.

I have friends in another suburb whose ES kid gets on a bus at 7:15 for school starting at 7:45. Her MS student gets on a bus around 8:30 for a start time of 9:20 or 9:30. He gets out around 4:00 and is home (bus) at 5:00. He still participates in sports, band and a full time G/T program. The ES kid is off the bus at 2:30.

It makes more sense to have MS later b/c they are more likely than ES to be unsupervised and get into trouble in the late afternoon hours. By having them in school or on the bus until 5;00, MS kids don't have much unsupervised time. They are not likely to get into alcohol, sex, drugs in the morning hours b/t 7:00 a.m. and 9:20 a.m. It's really a win win, even though it is a pain for kids in ES and MS to be on such different schedules.