Healthy school start time

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:And it's been looked at, studied, and you've been told NO to moving HS any later already (beyond the 20 minutes its been moved). When my teens do this I tell them to stop badgering me. You're supposedly an adult, so please, move along.

I’ve lived in MoCo for 2 years and my children are 8 and under. Reopen a debate 10 years later and it is an almost entirely new set of families having the discussion. I have certainly not been told “no.”

Plus we’ve had numerous different superintendents since then, we have some new school board members, we have newer technology and we’ve expanded the use of technology in general, we’re trying improve attendance, we’re about to change boundaries, we’re about to switch from centralized upcounty and downcounty magnets to smaller regional specialized programs so more high school students can take more rigorous classse, the college application process is an ever-escalating arms race.

The rise of screens and tech in the educational space has meant more strain on eyes and hands. Restful sleep is needed to function and actually learn. BOE and Taylor - do your job and adjust bell times!

Actually, instead of telling others to do their job, as a parent do your. Restrict screens and tech yourself. You can refuse to get your kids tech and you can enforce bed times and good routines for healthy sleep. I don't get why so many parents expect MCPS to parent their kids vs. teach.

Re-read the post you’re responding to. It’s not about personal tech use at home. PP was specifically talking about use of screens in school.

The discussion is about start times so the issue would be electronics at home not school.

READ THE POST YOU RESPINDED TO: ”The rise of screens and tech in the educational space has meant more strain on eyes and hands. Restful sleep is needed to function and actually learn.”

Where did you get the dumb idea that only the use of screens outside the school setting impacts kids brains?

Okay, but there are plenty of hours between getting home and going to bed... and if it is such a concern, don't let them have it at home and enforce bedtime and healthy sleep habits. Stop expecting MCPS to parent your kids. Obviously, screens are ok as you are here.

If you change start times by 30 minutes, they don't get more sleep, they just go to bed 30 minutes later as everything shifts back, and in some situations, they may have to get up even earlier as sports and activities are in the AM before school.

So when we’re talking about rejuvenation of the brain, there are plenty of hours between school dismissal and bedtime, but when we talk about extracurricular activities, they can’t possibly be pushed back because there’s not enough time to fit them in after school with a later dismissal?

The poster who is adament school start time does not change has their kids
get up at 4am
milk cow
get ready
commute to sports
sports
commute to school
school 7:30am
sports or activities after school, homework, dinner 2:45 - 8pm
poster tucks 16 year old Larlo into bed 8pm

Like a 6 year old including that bed time

Six year old brains sleep by then if not even earlier. Teens' do not.

They don’t have teens. Between activities, sports, private lessons, homework, tutoring if needed, more like 11 or later. And few kids get home at 2:45 with bus or carpool lane.

As you have written, these are the reasons to start school later for teens to best utilize their teen brains.

No, because kids like mine don’t get all their needs met in school and have other outlets. It’s unfortunate you don’t encourage your kids interests outside school.

You need to re read posts. Later school start times will still allow students to engage in other activities that they need or are important. And it's none of your business what posters' kids are doing outside of school. No one cares to hear about yours.

How would a later start time do that? It would take away time at night so everything is shifted later so kids go to bed later, still get up at the same time so some loos sleep so yours can sleep in as you want the world to revolve around you.

Nah, you have made it clear to all the world revolves around you, not even your kids, but your own schedule.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:And it's been looked at, studied, and you've been told NO to moving HS any later already (beyond the 20 minutes its been moved). When my teens do this I tell them to stop badgering me. You're supposedly an adult, so please, move along.

I’ve lived in MoCo for 2 years and my children are 8 and under. Reopen a debate 10 years later and it is an almost entirely new set of families having the discussion. I have certainly not been told “no.”

So the new Board of Education members and new Superintendent will look at the same data and come up with a different result? Sure. Or, you could acknowledge it's a losing issue, and that not everyone wants the same thing you do

New time, new people. With your attitude nothing would ever change ever.

New poster here. What has changed? Okay, so the board is different, but are the facts different?

Did the supply of busses in MCPS triple?

Did the number of bus drivers increase?

Did the budget get exponentially bigger?

Are there fewer low-income families relying on siblings to provide after school care?

I would love a later start time but I have to live in reality, and in reality land, none of the barriers from a decade ago have changed. If anything, each has become worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:And it's been looked at, studied, and you've been told NO to moving HS any later already (beyond the 20 minutes its been moved). When my teens do this I tell them to stop badgering me. You're supposedly an adult, so please, move along.

I’ve lived in MoCo for 2 years and my children are 8 and under. Reopen a debate 10 years later and it is an almost entirely new set of families having the discussion. I have certainly not been told “no.”

So the new Board of Education members and new Superintendent will look at the same data and come up with a different result? Sure. Or, you could acknowledge it's a losing issue, and that not everyone wants the same thing you do

New time, new people. With your attitude nothing would ever change ever.

New poster here. What has changed? Okay, so the board is different, but are the facts different?

Did the supply of busses in MCPS triple?

Did the number of bus drivers increase?

Did the budget get exponentially bigger?

Are there fewer low-income families relying on siblings to provide after school care?

I would love a later start time but I have to live in reality, and in reality land, none of the barriers from a decade ago have changed. If anything, each has become worse.

Do you, really?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And it's been looked at, studied, and you've been told NO to moving HS any later already (beyond the 20 minutes its been moved). When my teens do this I tell them to stop badgering me. You're supposedly an adult, so please, move along.

I’ve lived in MoCo for 2 years and my children are 8 and under. Reopen a debate 10 years later and it is an almost entirely new set of families having the discussion. I have certainly not been told “no.”

So the new Board of Education members and new Superintendent will look at the same data and come up with a different result? Sure. Or, you could acknowledge it's a losing issue, and that not everyone wants the same thing you do

New time, new people. With your attitude nothing would ever change ever.

New poster here. What has changed? Okay, so the board is different, but are the facts different?

Did the supply of busses in MCPS triple?

Did the number of bus drivers increase?

Did the budget get exponentially bigger?

Are there fewer low-income families relying on siblings to provide after school care?

I would love a later start time but I have to live in reality, and in reality land, none of the barriers from a decade ago have changed. If anything, each has become worse.

Read the thread. We’ve elaborated on what has/will soon change.

[Anonymous]

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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.

Yes, those students are them minority not the majority. Most 11th and 12th graders spend the day at school. Not sure what school you are referring to.

[Anonymous]

Any hope this item will be taken to BOE in school year '25-26?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any hope this item will be taken to BOE in school year '25-26?

Not at all. There are so many bigger problems in MCPS right now.

[Anonymous]

There will always be something that comes up. This could be the "win" Taylor and associates need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There will always be something that comes up. This could be the "win" Taylor and associates need.

Not a chance, because as previous posters have stated, not everyone wants later HS start times, despite the loud voices of the few. Not
-families who's kids play after school sports
-families who's older kids pick up younger kids after school and watch them while parents are working
-families who's kids work after school to contribute to the household budget

And so many more reasons. Can you imagine that not every family is like yours?

[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?

Feel free to take up the charge. BTW, do you mind paying higher taxes to underwrite the additional buses and drivers that will be needed? Otherwise, ES students will start the day at 10:45 and get out at dinnertime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There will always be something that comes up. This could be the "win" Taylor and associates need.

LOL, Taylor won't last long enough to see something like this through.

[Anonymous]

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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.

If they're not sleepy they're probably not getting enough physical activity or _are_ getting too much screen time, or both. Reduce the screens and enhance the exercise, and then see if they can get to bed.

[Anonymous]

18:22 You're the one "putting your kid to sleep" for your convenience not for their own health. You do you and the 159.9k will advocate for later high school start time

[Anonymous]

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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.

Yes, RideOn busses! Some of the routes have very few county passangers. Use those busses to circulate in more areas of the county. If only MCPS is willing to collaborate with RideOn and worked together with the MoCo Council

That only works is you have lots of bus routes and I would agree to that for safety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you not heard of Sandra Landis?

Did she bring forth the item at the last BOE meeting?