Early middle school bell crushing DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is crazy to be when FCPS decided to move high schools to a later start time that they sacrificed middle school start times to make it work. Arguably middle schoolers need more sleep than high school students. I get the logistics problems, but it sucks.

What amazes me is how every 10K - 20K school district in towns across PA and NJ (where I came from before moving here) can effectively manage elementary/middle/high school scheduling and busing, but the bloated 190K FCPS cannot figure it out.

FCP is too big and too inefficient; it needs to be broken up into 5 or 6 human-scale school districts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is crazy to be when FCPS decided to move high schools to a later start time that they sacrificed middle school start times to make it work. Arguably middle schoolers need more sleep than high school students. I get the logistics problems, but it sucks.

What amazes me is how every 10K - 20K school district in towns across PA and NJ (where I came from before moving here) can effectively manage elementary/middle/high school scheduling and busing, but the bloated 190K FCPS cannot figure it out.

FCP is too big and too inefficient; it needs to be broken up into 5 or 6 human-scale school districts.

Um I grew up in a district like this and high school started at 7:30, middle at 7:50 and ES at 8:45. They still have staggered times.

[Anonymous]

It has been working for us. My 7th grader goes to bed around 9:30/10:00pm and I wake her up at 5:15am at the latest per HER request. I find it ridiculous, but she says she needs the tine to “get ready.”

Bus is at 6:30am btw.

She has been “training” herself to wake up early since last year (ES hours) and she used that time to do homework.

When she gets home around 2:30/2:40pm, she takes one hour to decompress and do whatever she wants. After that she does her chores and school work. Three days/week she has extracurriculars such as soccer practice and AoPS.

Somedays she will meet with a friend for chatting, ice cream or Starbucks at our nearby shopping center. She seems ok so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It has been working for us. My 7th grader goes to bed around 9:30/10:00pm and I wake her up at 5:15am at the latest per HER request. I find it ridiculous, but she says she needs the tine to “get ready.”

Bus is at 6:30am btw.

She has been “training” herself to wake up early since last year (ES hours) and she used that time to do homework.

When she gets home around 2:30/2:40pm, she takes one hour to decompress and do whatever she wants. After that she does her chores and school work. Three days/week she has extracurriculars such as soccer practice and AoPS.

Somedays she will meet with a friend for chatting, ice cream or Starbucks at our nearby shopping center. She seems ok so far.

Well, if it works for her . . . . that settles the matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It has been working for us. My 7th grader goes to bed around 9:30/10:00pm and I wake her up at 5:15am at the latest per HER request. I find it ridiculous, but she says she needs the tine to “get ready.”

Bus is at 6:30am btw.

She has been “training” herself to wake up early since last year (ES hours) and she used that time to do homework.

When she gets home around 2:30/2:40pm, she takes one hour to decompress and do whatever she wants. After that she does her chores and school work. Three days/week she has extracurriculars such as soccer practice and AoPS.

Somedays she will meet with a friend for chatting, ice cream or Starbucks at our nearby shopping center. She seems ok so far.

Well, if it works for her . . . . that settles the matter.

A 7th grader who only needs 7-8 hours of sleep per night and feels fine and can learn, play sports, etc. as normal on that sleep for days straight is not the norm. Most 12 year olds need 9-10 hours of sleep. Mine is definitely at her best at 10 hours. Although she bristled at first at the idea of a very early bedtime, after the first few days of school and being very tired, she has shifted to 8:30Pm lights out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It has been working for us. My 7th grader goes to bed around 9:30/10:00pm and I wake her up at 5:15am at the latest per HER request. I find it ridiculous, but she says she needs the tine to “get ready.”

Bus is at 6:30am btw.

She has been “training” herself to wake up early since last year (ES hours) and she used that time to do homework.

When she gets home around 2:30/2:40pm, she takes one hour to decompress and do whatever she wants. After that she does her chores and school work. Three days/week she has extracurriculars such as soccer practice and AoPS.

Somedays she will meet with a friend for chatting, ice cream or Starbucks at our nearby shopping center. She seems ok so far.

Well, if it works for her . . . . that settles the matter.

A 7th grader who only needs 7-8 hours of sleep per night and feels fine and can learn, play sports, etc. as normal on that sleep for days straight is not the norm. Most 12 year olds need 9-10 hours of sleep. Mine is definitely at her best at 10 hours. Although she bristled at first at the idea of a very early bedtime, after the first few days of school and being very tired, she has shifted to 8:30Pm lights out.

+1 plus if she needs Starbucks, she’s not ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It has been working for us. My 7th grader goes to bed around 9:30/10:00pm and I wake her up at 5:15am at the latest per HER request. I find it ridiculous, but she says she needs the tine to “get ready.”

Bus is at 6:30am btw.

She has been “training” herself to wake up early since last year (ES hours) and she used that time to do homework.

When she gets home around 2:30/2:40pm, she takes one hour to decompress and do whatever she wants. After that she does her chores and school work. Three days/week she has extracurriculars such as soccer practice and AoPS.

Somedays she will meet with a friend for chatting, ice cream or Starbucks at our nearby shopping center. She seems ok so far.

Well, if it works for her . . . . that settles the matter.

A 7th grader who only needs 7-8 hours of sleep per night and feels fine and can learn, play sports, etc. as normal on that sleep for days straight is not the norm. Most 12 year olds need 9-10 hours of sleep. Mine is definitely at her best at 10 hours. Although she bristled at first at the idea of a very early bedtime, after the first few days of school and being very tired, she has shifted to 8:30Pm lights out.

+1 plus if she needs Starbucks, she’s not ok.

PP said she hung out with friends at varying places afterschool on the 2 days a week she doesn't have organized activities, and one of those places is--gasp-_Starbucks --a popular hangout spot . That's not "needing Starbucks"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It has been working for us. My 7th grader goes to bed around 9:30/10:00pm and I wake her up at 5:15am at the latest per HER request. I find it ridiculous, but she says she needs the tine to “get ready.”

Bus is at 6:30am btw.

She has been “training” herself to wake up early since last year (ES hours) and she used that time to do homework.

When she gets home around 2:30/2:40pm, she takes one hour to decompress and do whatever she wants. After that she does her chores and school work. Three days/week she has extracurriculars such as soccer practice and AoPS.

Somedays she will meet with a friend for chatting, ice cream or Starbucks at our nearby shopping center. She seems ok so far.

Well, if it works for her . . . . that settles the matter.

A 7th grader who only needs 7-8 hours of sleep per night and feels fine and can learn, play sports, etc. as normal on that sleep for days straight is not the norm. Most 12 year olds need 9-10 hours of sleep. Mine is definitely at her best at 10 hours. Although she bristled at first at the idea of a very early bedtime, after the first few days of school and being very tired, she has shifted to 8:30Pm lights out.

+1 plus if she needs Starbucks, she’s not ok.

PP said she hung out with friends at varying places afterschool on the 2 days a week she doesn't have organized activities, and one of those places is--gasp-_Starbucks --a popular hangout spot . That's not "needing Starbucks"

What are you, PP’s bodyguard and mouthpiece?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To anyone reading this and getting anxiety because of all of the drama, it’s not that bad. I was so worried about the early start time because of reading this forum, but my son adjusted perfectly fine to the middle school schedule. We were at an ES that started at 9:20 or whatever too. He had to leave at 6:50 to get to school on time. He had a small cup of coffee with breakfast most days and that did help to wake him up. He’s in high school now and totally survived those two years of early waking up lol.

+1000. The amount of drama on this forum related to minor inconveniences never ceases to amaze.

+1. The amount of whining from parents because their poor, precious children have to wake up early for school is beyond me. It's school. You're supposed to wake up early. And guess what? The goal is that one day they will be gainfully employed adults who also have to wake up early. It's about discipline and scheduling. These are also skills that they are supposed to be learning. But instead of doing that, parents are crying to the school board that their children's biology PRECLUDES them from waking up at an early hour and attending class on time ....when really it's poor parenting. Take away the phones, set screen limits, arrange normal dinner times. What? Sports practice is late? Well, that's a self inflicted wound that you chose to sign up for. You have to decide between sports and academics.

I'm perpetually amazed at the parents on this board. Stop coddling.

I think it is a genuine complaint. Why do they start in darkness? Oh, right because it is the way schools have always done it and schools don't give a darn about working families and kids. Biut ok- label everyone else the problem.

They start in darkness bc it gets dark early here in the winter. Have a problem with it? Move to FL. We have seasonal changes unfortunately. Write to Congress about daylight savings and how much it sucks. If that doesn't work, I guess you can file a complaint with...the sun? The solar system clearly does not take your teenagers NEEDS into account! What is WRONG with the world?

OR, you could go to sleep on time and wake up early. But that would be too logical....

My kid goes to sleep at 9:30 so it is not like that is late for a 13 year old. Getting up at 6am sucks for everyone. My job doesn't require me to sign on before 9am so I am entitled to complain about the MS start. It is early because the schools can't figure out how to let MS and HS share buses (which is weird when they are within sight distance of each other).

So drive your own kid and stop complaining! You have signed your kid up for a publicly, government administrated schooling, and you are surprised that it does not cater to your needs like private? Really?! If you have a problem with the bus time, drive them yourselves. Don't like the start? Sign up for private.

This thread and the "why is lunch so bad at public school" thread perpetually amaze me. Can parents do anything themselves?

[Anonymous]

I can't imagine how complicated MS and HS sharing buses would be. Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is crazy to be when FCPS decided to move high schools to a later start time that they sacrificed middle school start times to make it work. Arguably middle schoolers need more sleep than high school students. I get the logistics problems, but it sucks.

What amazes me is how every 10K - 20K school district in towns across PA and NJ (where I came from before moving here) can effectively manage elementary/middle/high school scheduling and busing, but the bloated 190K FCPS cannot figure it out.

FCP is too big and too inefficient; it needs to be broken up into 5 or 6 human-scale school districts.

What amazes me how idiotic you sound. If school is so much better in your small town in NJ or PA, why aren’t you living there? You could study their systems there and then tell everyone here how to make FCPS more efficient with 5 separate administrative buildings, 5 separate Human Resource departments, etc. We’d love to see it. If it’s so easy to do, why hasn’t anyone here presented a restructuring plan? Have at it, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is crazy to be when FCPS decided to move high schools to a later start time that they sacrificed middle school start times to make it work. Arguably middle schoolers need more sleep than high school students. I get the logistics problems, but it sucks.

What amazes me is how every 10K - 20K school district in towns across PA and NJ (where I came from before moving here) can effectively manage elementary/middle/high school scheduling and busing, but the bloated 190K FCPS cannot figure it out.

FCP is too big and too inefficient; it needs to be broken up into 5 or 6 human-scale school districts.

What amazes me how idiotic you sound. If school is so much better in your small town in NJ or PA, why aren’t you living there? You could study their systems there and then tell everyone here how to make FCPS more efficient with 5 separate administrative buildings, 5 separate Human Resource departments, etc. We’d love to see it. If it’s so easy to do, why hasn’t anyone here presented a restructuring plan? Have at it, PP.

If people hate property taxes now, just wait!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To anyone reading this and getting anxiety because of all of the drama, it’s not that bad. I was so worried about the early start time because of reading this forum, but my son adjusted perfectly fine to the middle school schedule. We were at an ES that started at 9:20 or whatever too. He had to leave at 6:50 to get to school on time. He had a small cup of coffee with breakfast most days and that did help to wake him up. He’s in high school now and totally survived those two years of early waking up lol.

+1000. The amount of drama on this forum related to minor inconveniences never ceases to amaze.

+1. The amount of whining from parents because their poor, precious children have to wake up early for school is beyond me. It's school. You're supposed to wake up early. And guess what? The goal is that one day they will be gainfully employed adults who also have to wake up early. It's about discipline and scheduling. These are also skills that they are supposed to be learning. But instead of doing that, parents are crying to the school board that their children's biology PRECLUDES them from waking up at an early hour and attending class on time ....when really it's poor parenting. Take away the phones, set screen limits, arrange normal dinner times. What? Sports practice is late? Well, that's a self inflicted wound that you chose to sign up for. You have to decide between sports and academics.

I'm perpetually amazed at the parents on this board. Stop coddling.

I think it is a genuine complaint. Why do they start in darkness? Oh, right because it is the way schools have always done it and schools don't give a darn about working families and kids. Biut ok- label everyone else the problem.

They start in darkness bc it gets dark early here in the winter. Have a problem with it? Move to FL. We have seasonal changes unfortunately. Write to Congress about daylight savings and how much it sucks. If that doesn't work, I guess you can file a complaint with...the sun? The solar system clearly does not take your teenagers NEEDS into account! What is WRONG with the world?

OR, you could go to sleep on time and wake up early. But that would be too logical....

My kid goes to sleep at 9:30 so it is not like that is late for a 13 year old. Getting up at 6am sucks for everyone. My job doesn't require me to sign on before 9am so I am entitled to complain about the MS start. It is early because the schools can't figure out how to let MS and HS share buses (which is weird when they are within sight distance of each other).

So drive your own kid and stop complaining! You have signed your kid up for a publicly, government administrated schooling, and you are surprised that it does not cater to your needs like private? Really?! If you have a problem with the bus time, drive them yourselves. Don't like the start? Sign up for private.

This thread and the "why is lunch so bad at public school" thread perpetually amaze me. Can parents do anything themselves?

Oh I do a lot myself. We have had to pay 1000s of dollars for tutoring because FCPS can’t handle simple learning differences. Me driving my kid to school every day (which I do) doesn’t change the start time. There have been numerous studies that tweens and teens need later starts so it is not just a whiny parent. I wish we had chosen private years ago but we believed the marketing about how good FCPS was and have been burned time and time again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To anyone reading this and getting anxiety because of all of the drama, it’s not that bad. I was so worried about the early start time because of reading this forum, but my son adjusted perfectly fine to the middle school schedule. We were at an ES that started at 9:20 or whatever too. He had to leave at 6:50 to get to school on time. He had a small cup of coffee with breakfast most days and that did help to wake him up. He’s in high school now and totally survived those two years of early waking up lol.

+1000. The amount of drama on this forum related to minor inconveniences never ceases to amaze.

+1. The amount of whining from parents because their poor, precious children have to wake up early for school is beyond me. It's school. You're supposed to wake up early. And guess what? The goal is that one day they will be gainfully employed adults who also have to wake up early. It's about discipline and scheduling. These are also skills that they are supposed to be learning. But instead of doing that, parents are crying to the school board that their children's biology PRECLUDES them from waking up at an early hour and attending class on time ....when really it's poor parenting. Take away the phones, set screen limits, arrange normal dinner times. What? Sports practice is late? Well, that's a self inflicted wound that you chose to sign up for. You have to decide between sports and academics.

I'm perpetually amazed at the parents on this board. Stop coddling.

I think it is a genuine complaint. Why do they start in darkness? Oh, right because it is the way schools have always done it and schools don't give a darn about working families and kids. Biut ok- label everyone else the problem.

They start in darkness bc it gets dark early here in the winter. Have a problem with it? Move to FL. We have seasonal changes unfortunately. Write to Congress about daylight savings and how much it sucks. If that doesn't work, I guess you can file a complaint with...the sun? The solar system clearly does not take your teenagers NEEDS into account! What is WRONG with the world?

OR, you could go to sleep on time and wake up early. But that would be too logical....

My kid goes to sleep at 9:30 so it is not like that is late for a 13 year old. Getting up at 6am sucks for everyone. My job doesn't require me to sign on before 9am so I am entitled to complain about the MS start. It is early because the schools can't figure out how to let MS and HS share buses (which is weird when they are within sight distance of each other).

So drive your own kid and stop complaining! You have signed your kid up for a publicly, government administrated schooling, and you are surprised that it does not cater to your needs like private? Really?! If you have a problem with the bus time, drive them yourselves. Don't like the start? Sign up for private.

This thread and the "why is lunch so bad at public school" thread perpetually amaze me. Can parents do anything themselves?

Oh I do a lot myself. We have had to pay 1000s of dollars for tutoring because FCPS can’t handle simple learning differences. Me driving my kid to school every day (which I do) doesn’t change the start time. There have been numerous studies that tweens and teens need later starts so it is not just a whiny parent. I wish we had chosen private years ago but we believed the marketing about how good FCPS was and have been burned time and time again.

How do you handle all the splinters you must get from building that cross for yourself so many times? Must be rough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A group of principals has advocated for years that ES should be first. We were routinely ignored by the Leadership Team. This needs to come from the community or it ain’t happening.

I’d love it. Especially for kindergarten because it’s such a loooooong day for kindergarteners. Having them get out of school early would be great.

Your kid is a Kindergartner for a year.

The reality is that if Elementary School started early, a majority of the kids would have longer days because they would be in after-school “day care”. At least middle schoolers can fend for themselves.

It would be the same total time away from home - they just won't have to go to before care. They're either in school or before-care/after-care during parent working hours. The parent working hours aren't changing.