Howard and Anne Arundel delays high school start time to healthier times. Will MCPS follow?

[Anonymous]

I really don't see the fuss over the difference between a 7:45 am and 8:00 am start time and I'm hard pressed to think 8:30 am is going to make that much of a difference either.

Teens like to sleep in if they can whenever they can. Push it to 9:00 am and you'd still have some people complaining it's still too early. Pretty much anything before 11 am is "too early" for most teenagers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:8 and 8:30 am. I know MCPS delayed to 7:45 several years ago. But is that enough?

They already went over this and the problem is that changing high school times would negatively impact elementary and middle school times

Blah blah blah.I spent years and years waiting for elementary school to start at 9:25. My kids would get up at 6:30 and there almost 3 hours til school started. Send those kids to school earlier!

Seriously. If they are concerned about health, the High School and elementary school start times should be flipped.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really don't see the fuss over the difference between a 7:45 am and 8:00 am start time and I'm hard pressed to think 8:30 am is going to make that much of a difference either.

Teens like to sleep in if they can whenever they can. Push it to 9:00 am and you'd still have some people complaining it's still too early. Pretty much anything before 11 am is "too early" for most teenagers.

If the times were flipped, high schools could start much later - right now some ES start at 9:25

[Anonymous]

Of course, there are pros and cons in every scenario. You need to get your priorities straight. If you are mostly concerned about teenage health, depression, etc you can make starting HS later a priority and work around that. If not, then no point to discuss.

[Anonymous]

Switching ES and HS start times and/or shifting everything later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:8 and 8:30 am. I know MCPS delayed to 7:45 several years ago. But is that enough?

They already went over this and the problem is that changing high school times would negatively impact elementary and middle school times

I thought the problem was that there was a significant number of families who depend on high school and middle school kids being dismissed before elementary kids so they can watch younger siblings, and that’s why they can’t switch high school and elementary start times.

This argument does not hold water. Parents in Howard and Anne Arundel don't have babysitting issues either? They managed to make it work and MCPS can do the same.

[Anonymous]

I'm going to beg everyone to please read the previous Bell Time Survey before coming in with "easy" suggestions for what MCPS should just do.

Address the concerns raised the last time we went thorugh this process, and then maybe you will have an argument to bring forward to the school board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:8 and 8:30 am. I know MCPS delayed to 7:45 several years ago. But is that enough?

They already went over this and the problem is that changing high school times would negatively impact elementary and middle school times

Blah blah blah.I spent years and years waiting for elementary school to start at 9:25. My kids would get up at 6:30 and there almost 3 hours til school started. Send those kids to school earlier!

Sure, you say that. I'm in Loudoun and our elementary school runs 7:10-2:10. 2:10 is so ridiculously early that few parents can work and not have to pay for aftercare. 2:10 is middle of the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:8 and 8:30 am. I know MCPS delayed to 7:45 several years ago. But is that enough?

They already went over this and the problem is that changing high school times would negatively impact elementary and middle school times

Blah blah blah.I spent years and years waiting for elementary school to start at 9:25. My kids would get up at 6:30 and there almost 3 hours til school started. Send those kids to school earlier!

Seriously. If they are concerned about health, the High School and elementary school start times should be flipped.

-2 throwing younger kids under the bus for your convenience doesn't make sense

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:8 and 8:30 am. I know MCPS delayed to 7:45 several years ago. But is that enough?

We solved this ourselves by setting our clocks ahead for 2 hours. It's like HS starts later. You should give it a try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:8 and 8:30 am. I know MCPS delayed to 7:45 several years ago. But is that enough?

They already went over this and the problem is that changing high school times would negatively impact elementary and middle school times

Blah blah blah.I spent years and years waiting for elementary school to start at 9:25. My kids would get up at 6:30 and there almost 3 hours til school started. Send those kids to school earlier!

Seriously. Loudoun County does this (Elementary @ 7:50, Middle @ 8:50, HS @ 9:30). We love it.

For the life of me, I don't understand why there isn't more discussion about or opposition to late elementary school start times. Maybe some kids sleep later, but I'm with the PP who had my kids up before 7:00 a.m. every day even though school started at 9:25 a.m. It's not like kids can go to the park or run around in the morning without needing a shower, so these start times force sedentary activities before school and leave little time after school for family or play.

That's nice that your kids were regularly up before 7:00 am. That's definitely not the case for my elementary age daughter and she'd be miserable if she had to be at school by 7:50. As it is now, she wakes up between 7:00-7:30 to start getting ready and then eat breakfast and get to her bus stop by 8:20. So pushing all of that back to a 6 am start time would make her miserable.

Don't assume your kids are the same as everyone else's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:8 and 8:30 am. I know MCPS delayed to 7:45 several years ago. But is that enough?

They already went over this and the problem is that changing high school times would negatively impact elementary and middle school times

Blah blah blah.I spent years and years waiting for elementary school to start at 9:25. My kids would get up at 6:30 and there almost 3 hours til school started. Send those kids to school earlier!

Our ES starts at 9 am and the bus comes at 8:30. I have trouble getting the kids up at 8 am and eat breakfast and walk to bus stop in half an hour. I don’t want any time earlier for ES kids as they need 10-11 hours of sleep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:8 and 8:30 am. I know MCPS delayed to 7:45 several years ago. But is that enough?

They already went over this and the problem is that changing high school times would negatively impact elementary and middle school times

Blah blah blah.I spent years and years waiting for elementary school to start at 9:25. My kids would get up at 6:30 and there almost 3 hours til school started. Send those kids to school earlier!

Seriously. Loudoun County does this (Elementary @ 7:50, Middle @ 8:50, HS @ 9:30). We love it.

For the life of me, I don't understand why there isn't more discussion about or opposition to late elementary school start times. Maybe some kids sleep later, but I'm with the PP who had my kids up before 7:00 a.m. every day even though school started at 9:25 a.m. It's not like kids can go to the park or run around in the morning without needing a shower, so these start times force sedentary activities before school and leave little time after school for family or play.

That's nice that your kids were regularly up before 7:00 am. That's definitely not the case for my elementary age daughter and she'd be miserable if she had to be at school by 7:50. As it is now, she wakes up between 7:00-7:30 to start getting ready and then eat breakfast and get to her bus stop by 8:20. So pushing all of that back to a 6 am start time would make her miserable.

Don't assume your kids are the same as everyone else's.

Exactly. ES kids need more sleep than HS students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:8 and 8:30 am. I know MCPS delayed to 7:45 several years ago. But is that enough?

We solved this ourselves by setting our clocks ahead for 2 hours. It's like HS starts later. You should give it a try.

Brilliant!

[Anonymous]

Loudon ES parents hate what they have. There is no perfect solution.