Healthy school start time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ Who?

She’s is the loudest and most visible voice and figure in pushing back start times for high school in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that HS students don’t have to take 7 classes a year every year. My kid’s counselor said most 11th and 12th graders are just in the building right before and after lunch for the required math and English classes.

So if a 7:45 start doesn’t work for your kid, take less classes during the school day. Take classes over the summer, online during the school year, and dual enrollment at MC

Uh. Not at my kid's school! I mean, I see kids leaving early, but I would not say most, especially among the truly ambitious and academic students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that HS students don’t have to take 7 classes a year every year. My kid’s counselor said most 11th and 12th graders are just in the building right before and after lunch for the required math and English classes.

So if a 7:45 start doesn’t work for your kid, take less classes during the school day. Take classes over the summer, online during the school year, and dual enrollment at MC

Arriving later in the day is not allowed. If you request an abbreviated scheduled, counselors will make your 1-2 classes first thing in the day.

A few years ago, a neighbor kid had a unique opportunity for an internship that was 6:30-10:30 AM. He only needed English and one other class to graduate. The high school wouldn’t schedule him for afternoon only classes. His parents appealed because of the opportunity and lost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that HS students don’t have to take 7 classes a year every year. My kid’s counselor said most 11th and 12th graders are just in the building right before and after lunch for the required math and English classes.

So if a 7:45 start doesn’t work for your kid, take less classes during the school day. Take classes over the summer, online during the school year, and dual enrollment at MC

Uh. Not at my kid's school! I mean, I see kids leaving early, but I would not say most, especially among the truly ambitious and academic students.

M

Definitely not most kids in our HS. A small amount have half day schedules and do a work program or internship. The rest are taking electives in school and have a full schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of us don’t want that. Enforce bedtime. Starting later means kids go to bed later so it fixes nothing.

Some of us do want that because our kids cannot fall asleep 8 hours before they have to get up to be on a bus by 6:50, regardless of a bedtime. Bedtime just means electronics put away, lights out, kid in bed. It doesn’t mean kid is sleepy.

[Anonymous]

This seems like a big county set in old ways issue. I realize there are logistics, but many many other districts nationwide have followed the research and made it work. There will always be reasons to resist change, but it doesn’t make the change a bad idea.

[Anonymous]

The comments about "Oh, no, we can't do this" in 2014 were intense.

The 20-minute push wasn't great, but at least it was a start for the HS & MS kids. It totally sucks for the ES kids, though.

[Anonymous]

I think this is actually a great time to fold things into all of the changes because they're going to have to scrap the current bus schedule anyways with all of the rezoning and new prigram plans. Lets bake this in too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This subject is brought up every year. The schedule never changes. Move on.

If the 2014 group had said the same thing, they would've never been able to make it happen. If you don't care to make the change, you move on.

The 2014 group was trying to get the start time moved to substantially later, and after a comprehensive study that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, only managed to move it 20 minutes.

I would not support reopening this question unless someone can explain what has changed since the last time MCPS tackled this issue. If there has been a material change in the situation, let's evaluate. But if all of the factors are functionally the same, it's not worth the money.

This is the perfect time to return to this conversation. We’re about to change boundaries, grading policy, and special programs. Under the new plan, bus rides to special programs will be shorter. We don’t know yet how bus ridership will change with new boundaries. Once these changes are rolled out, we ought to find out if the priorities of MCPS’s stakeholders have changed. Enough years will have passed since the last study that MCPS largely won’t be serving the same families. The old data will be obsolete. That doesn’t mean that the results of a new study would be different, but enough things will have changed that the old study won’t be relevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This subject is brought up every year. The schedule never changes. Move on.

If the 2014 group had said the same thing, they would've never been able to make it happen. If you don't care to make the change, you move on.

The 2014 group was trying to get the start time moved to substantially later, and after a comprehensive study that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, only managed to move it 20 minutes.

I would not support reopening this question unless someone can explain what has changed since the last time MCPS tackled this issue. If there has been a material change in the situation, let's evaluate. But if all of the factors are functionally the same, it's not worth the money.

This is the perfect time to return to this conversation. We’re about to change boundaries, grading policy, and special programs. Under the new plan, bus rides to special programs will be shorter. We don’t know yet how bus ridership will change with new boundaries. Once these changes are rolled out, we ought to find out if the priorities of MCPS’s stakeholders have changed. Enough years will have passed since the last study that MCPS largely won’t be serving the same families. The old data will be obsolete. That doesn’t mean that the results of a new study would be different, but enough things will have changed that the old study won’t be relevant.

Great. It will take MCPS 2-4 years to run the survey, get public comment on the survey and develop an action plan. By which time, a good chunk of key stakeholders will inevitably have turned over/left the system, which will inevitably stall progress on the plan and result in the status quo remaining.

You want to spend money again on that same outcome?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who can get the ball rolling to advocate later high school start time? Howard County was able to make the change yes we all know it's a smaller county.. Who in MCPS took this on in the 2010s to change HS start bell from 7:25 to 7:45am?

Do your kids have smartphones? How late are they able to have/use them? What time do they go to bed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who can get the ball rolling to advocate later high school start time? Howard County was able to make the change yes we all know it's a smaller county.. Who in MCPS took this on in the 2010s to change HS start bell from 7:25 to 7:45am?

Do your kids have smartphones? How late are they able to have/use them? What time do they go to bed?

You’re oversimplifying. Technology use definitely impacts sleep, but even kids who aren’t using smartphones in the evening have a circadian rhythm that makes it difficult to fall asleep by 10pm. This isn’t just a matter putting away smartphones and having to be in bed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that HS students don’t have to take 7 classes a year every year. My kid’s counselor said most 11th and 12th graders are just in the building right before and after lunch for the required math and English classes.

So if a 7:45 start doesn’t work for your kid, take less classes during the school day. Take classes over the summer, online during the school year, and dual enrollment at MC

Arriving later in the day is not allowed. If you request an abbreviated scheduled, counselors will make your 1-2 classes first thing in the day.

A few years ago, a neighbor kid had a unique opportunity for an internship that was 6:30-10:30 AM. He only needed English and one other class to graduate. The high school wouldn’t schedule him for afternoon only classes. His parents appealed because of the opportunity and lost.

+1 My kid is in a magnet program. She can leave 1-2 periods early for a job or internship, but she can’t go in late.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This subject is brought up every year. The schedule never changes. Move on.

If the 2014 group had said the same thing, they would've never been able to make it happen. If you don't care to make the change, you move on.

The 2014 group was trying to get the start time moved to substantially later, and after a comprehensive study that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, only managed to move it 20 minutes.

I would not support reopening this question unless someone can explain what has changed since the last time MCPS tackled this issue. If there has been a material change in the situation, let's evaluate. But if all of the factors are functionally the same, it's not worth the money.

This is the perfect time to return to this conversation. We’re about to change boundaries, grading policy, and special programs. Under the new plan, bus rides to special programs will be shorter. We don’t know yet how bus ridership will change with new boundaries. Once these changes are rolled out, we ought to find out if the priorities of MCPS’s stakeholders have changed. Enough years will have passed since the last study that MCPS largely won’t be serving the same families. The old data will be obsolete. That doesn’t mean that the results of a new study would be different, but enough things will have changed that the old study won’t be relevant.

The 2014 study had different options and their costs. The main problem to overcome is how the busses are used for HS, then MS, then ES runs. The idea that I thought most feasible was to have HS start when MS does, but that required purchasing and maintaining more busses and associated staffing.

I think there may be some bus route efficiency improvements with the region idea, but that alone won’t free up enough busses to cover MS/HS at the same time. I would like to see the county improve the public bus routes to align better with school system needs especially in the denser areas of the county. Maybe run new “circulator” routes connecting MS and HS in each region, concentrated around 6-9am, 11-1p, 3-6pm. Plan to move both commuting adults and students more efficiently. It may be possible to free up enough school busses in some areas to shift them to double up in other areas to get a change in start times. It’s worth advocating for.

[Anonymous]

Elementary should start earliest, ideally. They're the ones up at 6am.