Elementary parents, pay attention to start times

[Anonymous]

It is well known that younger children wake earlier, teens tend to sleep later. Elementary kids should be the first to start school. Many districts outside of DC metro area do this. Our transition to Middle school is ridiculous. Our ES starts at 9:20. Our MS starts at 7:20. TWO hours ahead. That’s is a very hard adjustment. We’ve already done it once, not looking forward to it again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Community Engagement will be in April and May.


Community Engagement
This spring, the public is invited to attend a community forum to learn more and share feedback. Four community forums will take place in April and May. Prismatic Services, Inc., an educational consulting firm, will lead the forums. All forums will deliver the same presentation and provide the same feedback opportunities. Please attend the event that best suits your schedule. Registration is not required, but does help us plan. Language interpretation and childcare will be provided.

April 29, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Glasgow Middle School,
May 6, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Whitman Middle School
May 13, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. Online Session -
May 20, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Hughes Middle School
May 22, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Frost Middle School

https://www.fcps.edu/considering-change-middle-school-start-times-school-year-2025-26

Those were actually the meeting times from last spring, 2024 when they held the meetings. There are no more meetings.

Ugh.

FCPS was completely misleading on this one.

So the only option is for parents to start calling their school board reps.

[Anonymous]

I have both ES and MS kids and don’t want any change of school start time. It was about changing MS start time, rather than changing all ES/MS/HS start time. ES parents should refuse any time change, otherwise the children may suffer and have to give up afterschool activities & adjust to late bed time, either now or later when they start MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is well known that younger children wake earlier, teens tend to sleep later. Elementary kids should be the first to start school. Many districts outside of DC metro area do this. Our transition to Middle school is ridiculous. Our ES starts at 9:20. Our MS starts at 7:20. TWO hours ahead. That’s is a very hard adjustment. We’ve already done it once, not looking forward to it again.

Not saying I agree with what about to write and sharing just as informative of what FCPS has stated in a lot of its write ups on school times and that is they say received overwhelming input from FCPS parents that MS and HS need to be home first so they could take care of ES kids— so ES couldn’t start first as FCPS saying parents told them MS/HS students are critical to child care of ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is well known that younger children wake earlier, teens tend to sleep later. Elementary kids should be the first to start school. Many districts outside of DC metro area do this. Our transition to Middle school is ridiculous. Our ES starts at 9:20. Our MS starts at 7:20. TWO hours ahead. That’s is a very hard adjustment. We’ve already done it once, not looking forward to it again.

Not saying I agree with what about to write and sharing just as informative of what FCPS has stated in a lot of its write ups on school times and that is they say received overwhelming input from FCPS parents that MS and HS need to be home first so they could take care of ES kids— so ES couldn’t start first as FCPS saying parents told them MS/HS students are critical to child care of ES.

But FCPS did not solicit input from elementary parents.

Every bit of correspondence on start times only talked about middle school.

Not once did FCPS indicate that they were changing elementary or high school schedules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much is this about parents who genuinely care about what's best vs. people wrangling due to inconvenience to their work schedules?

Find me a study that says it's okay for kids to be in school until 4:30pm, PP. There aren't any.

My kids went to school 8:15 to around 3 (2:50?) in elementary school. We were able to do after school activities.
Honestly, I think some of these SLEEP studies are biased. For years, FCPS high school students went very early, maybe too early. However, the schools excelled then.

What am I missing here?

It is silly. For kids who need more sleep, parents need to be parents and have them go to bed. My HS kid has some activities that start at 3:30, and others that start at 7:30 and don't let out till 9:30 PM. A later start would be nice but a nightmare.

[Anonymous]

The poster who suggested middle and high share busses...totally agree. Frost and Woodson used to do this. I don't know why it's not being considered again to help alleviate the ES concerns (FTR, I'm for keeping the status quo).

The poster who suggested shortening the day by 15 minutes...totally agree. If you push back the ES starts by 30 minutes, taking off 15 minutes at the end of the day makes it an easier pill to swallow. Part of the problem here is the long day length in FCPS (which is why we are able to have so many built in snow "days.")

I wrote to the school board with reasons why a 9/930 start for middle school was absolutely ridiculous and included both talking points above. They're making no attempt to creatively solve the problem and, instead, just trying to figure out who they'll shove in that last, least desirable, time slot.

I do know a ton of elementary parents, however, who like the late start so 30 minutes hardly seems like a big deal. But maybe if they find a way to free up some busses (did you know middle school busses are run half empty on average?) they could take those 950 start ES schools and move them up to 920 and have all of them start at the same time. It's the staggered elementary starts that require so many busses that are the problem. If they could all fit in one time slot, there wouldn't be much of an issue. They start at 8, MS at 830, HS at 9.

But to ask middle school to shift by two hours while everyone else barely moves is absurd. You want to talk about a mass exodus? There are a TON of middle school teachers who, quite literally, cannot make that new schedule work. A 30 minute change at every level is fairly easily accommodated. A two hour change at the middle school level is not.

[Anonymous]

It is silly. For kids who need more sleep, parents need to be parents and have them go to bed. My HS kid has some activities that start at 3:30, and others that start at 7:30 and don't let out till 9:30 PM. A later start would be nice but a nightmare.

I read somewhere that they were kicking elementary to a really late start. What a nightmare for parents and kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The poster who suggested middle and high share busses...totally agree. Frost and Woodson used to do this. I don't know why it's not being considered again to help alleviate the ES concerns (FTR, I'm for keeping the status quo).

The poster who suggested shortening the day by 15 minutes...totally agree. If you push back the ES starts by 30 minutes, taking off 15 minutes at the end of the day makes it an easier pill to swallow. Part of the problem here is the long day length in FCPS (which is why we are able to have so many built in snow "days.")

I wrote to the school board with reasons why a 9/930 start for middle school was absolutely ridiculous and included both talking points above. They're making no attempt to creatively solve the problem and, instead, just trying to figure out who they'll shove in that last, least desirable, time slot.

I do know a ton of elementary parents, however, who like the late start so 30 minutes hardly seems like a big deal. But maybe if they find a way to free up some busses (did you know middle school busses are run half empty on average?) they could take those 950 start ES schools and move them up to 920 and have all of them start at the same time. It's the staggered elementary starts that require so many busses that are the problem. If they could all fit in one time slot, there wouldn't be much of an issue. They start at 8, MS at 830, HS at 9.

But to ask middle school to shift by two hours while everyone else barely moves is absurd. You want to talk about a mass exodus? There are a TON of middle school teachers who, quite literally, cannot make that new schedule work. A 30 minute change at every level is fairly easily accommodated. A two hour change at the middle school level is not.

+1 This exactly. We all have to compromise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The poster who suggested middle and high share busses...totally agree. Frost and Woodson used to do this. I don't know why it's not being considered again to help alleviate the ES concerns (FTR, I'm for keeping the status quo).

The poster who suggested shortening the day by 15 minutes...totally agree. If you push back the ES starts by 30 minutes, taking off 15 minutes at the end of the day makes it an easier pill to swallow. Part of the problem here is the long day length in FCPS (which is why we are able to have so many built in snow "days.")

I wrote to the school board with reasons why a 9/930 start for middle school was absolutely ridiculous and included both talking points above. They're making no attempt to creatively solve the problem and, instead, just trying to figure out who they'll shove in that last, least desirable, time slot.

I do know a ton of elementary parents, however, who like the late start so 30 minutes hardly seems like a big deal. But maybe if they find a way to free up some busses (did you know middle school busses are run half empty on average?) they could take those 950 start ES schools and move them up to 920 and have all of them start at the same time. It's the staggered elementary starts that require so many busses that are the problem. If they could all fit in one time slot, there wouldn't be much of an issue. They start at 8, MS at 830, HS at 9.

But to ask middle school to shift by two hours while everyone else barely moves is absurd. You want to talk about a mass exodus? There are a TON of middle school teachers who, quite literally, cannot make that new schedule work. A 30 minute change at every level is fairly easily accommodated. A two hour change at the middle school level is not.

If this is truly about middle school slerp, then a 30 minute change will have zero impact.

The only options that will actually affect middle school sleep schedules is putting middle school last and elementary first.

If the justification for disrupting everyone else is middle schoolers needing more sleep, then the resulting schedule needs to actually give them more sleep time.

The only way to achieve this goal is giving middle schoolers the latest start.

30 minutes later makes zero impact on their sleep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The poster who suggested middle and high share busses...totally agree. Frost and Woodson used to do this. I don't know why it's not being considered again to help alleviate the ES concerns (FTR, I'm for keeping the status quo).

The poster who suggested shortening the day by 15 minutes...totally agree. If you push back the ES starts by 30 minutes, taking off 15 minutes at the end of the day makes it an easier pill to swallow. Part of the problem here is the long day length in FCPS (which is why we are able to have so many built in snow "days.")

I wrote to the school board with reasons why a 9/930 start for middle school was absolutely ridiculous and included both talking points above. They're making no attempt to creatively solve the problem and, instead, just trying to figure out who they'll shove in that last, least desirable, time slot.

I do know a ton of elementary parents, however, who like the late start so 30 minutes hardly seems like a big deal. But maybe if they find a way to free up some busses (did you know middle school busses are run half empty on average?) they could take those 950 start ES schools and move them up to 920 and have all of them start at the same time. It's the staggered elementary starts that require so many busses that are the problem. If they could all fit in one time slot, there wouldn't be much of an issue. They start at 8, MS at 830, HS at 9.

But to ask middle school to shift by two hours while everyone else barely moves is absurd. You want to talk about a mass exodus? There are a TON of middle school teachers who, quite literally, cannot make that new schedule work. A 30 minute change at every level is fairly easily accommodated. A two hour change at the middle school level is not.

+1 This exactly. We all have to compromise.

When you are the one demanding a convenience change, you need to absorb all the associated inconveniences and not pawn them off on everyone else.

Expecting elementary to bear the burden is just selfish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The poster who suggested middle and high share busses...totally agree. Frost and Woodson used to do this. I don't know why it's not being considered again to help alleviate the ES concerns (FTR, I'm for keeping the status quo).

The poster who suggested shortening the day by 15 minutes...totally agree. If you push back the ES starts by 30 minutes, taking off 15 minutes at the end of the day makes it an easier pill to swallow. Part of the problem here is the long day length in FCPS (which is why we are able to have so many built in snow "days.")

I wrote to the school board with reasons why a 9/930 start for middle school was absolutely ridiculous and included both talking points above. They're making no attempt to creatively solve the problem and, instead, just trying to figure out who they'll shove in that last, least desirable, time slot.

I do know a ton of elementary parents, however, who like the late start so 30 minutes hardly seems like a big deal. But maybe if they find a way to free up some busses (did you know middle school busses are run half empty on average?) they could take those 950 start ES schools and move them up to 920 and have all of them start at the same time. It's the staggered elementary starts that require so many busses that are the problem. If they could all fit in one time slot, there wouldn't be much of an issue. They start at 8, MS at 830, HS at 9.

But to ask middle school to shift by two hours while everyone else barely moves is absurd. You want to talk about a mass exodus? There are a TON of middle school teachers who, quite literally, cannot make that new schedule work. A 30 minute change at every level is fairly easily accommodated. A two hour change at the middle school level is not.

+1 This exactly. We all have to compromise.

When you are the one demanding a convenience change, you need to absorb all the associated inconveniences and not pawn them off on everyone else.

Expecting elementary to bear the burden is just selfish.

Womp womp. No one cares about ES. Deal with it.

[Anonymous]

I think the schedules should remain the same.

But, all this outrage from the ES parents is a little bizarre. Is it that they don't want to pay for before-care? I

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The poster who suggested middle and high share busses...totally agree. Frost and Woodson used to do this. I don't know why it's not being considered again to help alleviate the ES concerns (FTR, I'm for keeping the status quo).

The poster who suggested shortening the day by 15 minutes...totally agree. If you push back the ES starts by 30 minutes, taking off 15 minutes at the end of the day makes it an easier pill to swallow. Part of the problem here is the long day length in FCPS (which is why we are able to have so many built in snow "days.")

I wrote to the school board with reasons why a 9/930 start for middle school was absolutely ridiculous and included both talking points above. They're making no attempt to creatively solve the problem and, instead, just trying to figure out who they'll shove in that last, least desirable, time slot.

I do know a ton of elementary parents, however, who like the late start so 30 minutes hardly seems like a big deal. But maybe if they find a way to free up some busses (did you know middle school busses are run half empty on average?) they could take those 950 start ES schools and move them up to 920 and have all of them start at the same time. It's the staggered elementary starts that require so many busses that are the problem. If they could all fit in one time slot, there wouldn't be much of an issue. They start at 8, MS at 830, HS at 9.

But to ask middle school to shift by two hours while everyone else barely moves is absurd. You want to talk about a mass exodus? There are a TON of middle school teachers who, quite literally, cannot make that new schedule work. A 30 minute change at every level is fairly easily accommodated. A two hour change at the middle school level is not.

+1 This exactly. We all have to compromise.

When you are the one demanding a convenience change, you need to absorb all the associated inconveniences and not pawn them off on everyone else.

Expecting elementary to bear the burden is just selfish.

Womp womp. No one cares about ES. Deal with it.

You will find this is not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the schedules should remain the same.

But, all this outrage from the ES parents is a little bizarre. Is it that they don't want to pay for before-care? I

Before care isn’t as widely available as after care, as after care often translates into other after school activities. For example, it’s easy to staff a martial arts afterschool program because they’ll blend into evening classes.

The waitlist for before care SACC at late start elementary schools is long and the demand is high. Many parents already hate the 9:20 start time. Pushing it to 9:50 is adding salt to the wound.