Fcps elementary school time change

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It concerns me that they sent an advance email before posting the schedule....like a warning for us to brace ourselves for big changes.

The changes for elementaries, announced this week, range from five minutes' to fifteen minutes' difference from this year's start or ending times, as far as I can see. Not sure if you consider those big changes. I don't.

The process for changing these times was open to the public, and FCPS notified parents on its web site, by e-mails, on school web sites, etc. of public meetings about start time changes. Those meetings gave information about how much start times would change in ES, MS and HS under each potential option. Though the meetings did not list specific schools (nothing like "Sally Jones Elementary will begin at 8:10 a.m."), they did mention a range of times -- such as, under option one, ES start times would be five to 10 minutes earlier, or under another option, start times would be the same, etc. The options were on their web site for a long time for parents to see, though you could not have looked up your one specific school until this week. But a change in the range of five to 15 minutes should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Our ES is starting 25 min. later, and dismissing 40 minutes later- it is a substantial change (and a very long day for the Kindergarteners).

Old Creek? Call the school as it just doesn't seem right if you start at 8:30 you should end at 3:15 not 3:25. Every elementary is suppose to have 6:45 hours of "instructional" time this year. maybe a printed mistake?? I hope.

NP here. Yes, Olde Creek. The principal, whom I happen to admire, is meeting with the regional superintendent to find out what this is all about.

I have said it several times on these boards: these changes are NOT coming from the rank and file but from higher ups who could not be further disconnected from the actual needs of students.

But we're a small school and not the wealthiest in the county, so screw us, apparently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It concerns me that they sent an advance email before posting the schedule....like a warning for us to brace ourselves for big changes.

The changes for elementaries, announced this week, range from five minutes' to fifteen minutes' difference from this year's start or ending times, as far as I can see. Not sure if you consider those big changes. I don't.

The process for changing these times was open to the public, and FCPS notified parents on its web site, by e-mails, on school web sites, etc. of public meetings about start time changes. Those meetings gave information about how much start times would change in ES, MS and HS under each potential option. Though the meetings did not list specific schools (nothing like "Sally Jones Elementary will begin at 8:10 a.m."), they did mention a range of times -- such as, under option one, ES start times would be five to 10 minutes earlier, or under another option, start times would be the same, etc. The options were on their web site for a long time for parents to see, though you could not have looked up your one specific school until this week. But a change in the range of five to 15 minutes should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Our ES is starting 25 min. later, and dismissing 40 minutes later- it is a substantial change (and a very long day for the Kindergarteners).

Yes, but most of them are adjusting 5 to 10 minutes. Somehow I think the kindergartners will survive. Nearly a half hour at the end of the day seems to be packing up anyhow.

What's strikes me is that we're hearing very little on these boards from people making the biggest changes -- the high schoolers and middle schoolers. I suspect that's in part because parents are more seasoned with the school system -- they also realize having had kids in MS and perhaps HS as well as ES, that it's not all about them and their kids. Honestly, the people whining about 5 and 10 minute changes at their elementary schools when some middle schoolers will have to be on the bus by 6:30, need to chill and perhaps develop a little resilience if they're going to keep their kids in the public school system. There are a lot of different needs to be met here.

Seriously, you're a jerk. Doesn't affect you, so you don't care.

Plus, plenty of us have kids in elementary, middle, and high school all at once. We're plenty seasoned, thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It concerns me that they sent an advance email before posting the schedule....like a warning for us to brace ourselves for big changes.

The changes for elementaries, announced this week, range from five minutes' to fifteen minutes' difference from this year's start or ending times, as far as I can see. Not sure if you consider those big changes. I don't.

The process for changing these times was open to the public, and FCPS notified parents on its web site, by e-mails, on school web sites, etc. of public meetings about start time changes. Those meetings gave information about how much start times would change in ES, MS and HS under each potential option. Though the meetings did not list specific schools (nothing like "Sally Jones Elementary will begin at 8:10 a.m."), they did mention a range of times -- such as, under option one, ES start times would be five to 10 minutes earlier, or under another option, start times would be the same, etc. The options were on their web site for a long time for parents to see, though you could not have looked up your one specific school until this week. But a change in the range of five to 15 minutes should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Our ES is starting 25 min. later, and dismissing 40 minutes later- it is a substantial change (and a very long day for the Kindergarteners).

Yes, but most of them are adjusting 5 to 10 minutes. Somehow I think the kindergartners will survive. Nearly a half hour at the end of the day seems to be packing up anyhow.

What's strikes me is that we're hearing very little on these boards from people making the biggest changes -- the high schoolers and middle schoolers. I suspect that's in part because parents are more seasoned with the school system -- they also realize having had kids in MS and perhaps HS as well as ES, that it's not all about them and their kids. Honestly, the people whining about 5 and 10 minute changes at their elementary schools when some middle schoolers will have to be on the bus by 6:30, need to chill and perhaps develop a little resilience if they're going to keep their kids in the public school system. There are a lot of different needs to be met here.

Seriously, you're a jerk. Doesn't affect you, so you don't care.

Plus, plenty of us have kids in elementary, middle, and high school all at once. We're plenty seasoned, thank you.

I agree with the PP. You adjust your schedule to deal with the public school schedule, or you find another option. The petulant ranting about relatively the changes that were made to accommodate the broader community's request, over an extended period, for later HS start times is truly annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It concerns me that they sent an advance email before posting the schedule....like a warning for us to brace ourselves for big changes.

The changes for elementaries, announced this week, range from five minutes' to fifteen minutes' difference from this year's start or ending times, as far as I can see. Not sure if you consider those big changes. I don't.

The process for changing these times was open to the public, and FCPS notified parents on its web site, by e-mails, on school web sites, etc. of public meetings about start time changes. Those meetings gave information about how much start times would change in ES, MS and HS under each potential option. Though the meetings did not list specific schools (nothing like "Sally Jones Elementary will begin at 8:10 a.m."), they did mention a range of times -- such as, under option one, ES start times would be five to 10 minutes earlier, or under another option, start times would be the same, etc. The options were on their web site for a long time for parents to see, though you could not have looked up your one specific school until this week. But a change in the range of five to 15 minutes should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Our ES is starting 25 min. later, and dismissing 40 minutes later- it is a substantial change (and a very long day for the Kindergarteners).

Yes, but most of them are adjusting 5 to 10 minutes. Somehow I think the kindergartners will survive. Nearly a half hour at the end of the day seems to be packing up anyhow.

What's strikes me is that we're hearing very little on these boards from people making the biggest changes -- the high schoolers and middle schoolers. I suspect that's in part because parents are more seasoned with the school system -- they also realize having had kids in MS and perhaps HS as well as ES, that it's not all about them and their kids. Honestly, the people whining about 5 and 10 minute changes at their elementary schools when some middle schoolers will have to be on the bus by 6:30, need to chill and perhaps develop a little resilience if they're going to keep their kids in the public school system. There are a lot of different needs to be met here.

Seriously, you're a jerk. Doesn't affect you, so you don't care.

Plus, plenty of us have kids in elementary, middle, and high school all at once. We're plenty seasoned, thank you.

Not the case at all. When my kids were in elementary they adjusted the time later by 15 minutes. Somehow I survived. And again, I have complete sympathy with someone who's kid's day has shifted by 40 minutes. But people complaining about 5 to 10 minute changes when there are plenty of others in the FCPS facing much bigger changes/hardships just strikes me as entitled. Sorry if that comes off as jerky to you.

[Anonymous]

The amount of change from one school to another is what bothers me the most about the elementary school revisions. I didn't like them to begin with and now it's just as bad if not worse. Having a fluctuation of 1.5 hours from one school to another makes it difficult to plan sports team practices and other vendor classes. The schedulers don't know who will be available since one school gets off at 3:00 and another not till 4:30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It concerns me that they sent an advance email before posting the schedule....like a warning for us to brace ourselves for big changes.

The changes for elementaries, announced this week, range from five minutes' to fifteen minutes' difference from this year's start or ending times, as far as I can see. Not sure if you consider those big changes. I don't.

The process for changing these times was open to the public, and FCPS notified parents on its web site, by e-mails, on school web sites, etc. of public meetings about start time changes. Those meetings gave information about how much start times would change in ES, MS and HS under each potential option. Though the meetings did not list specific schools (nothing like "Sally Jones Elementary will begin at 8:10 a.m."), they did mention a range of times -- such as, under option one, ES start times would be five to 10 minutes earlier, or under another option, start times would be the same, etc. The options were on their web site for a long time for parents to see, though you could not have looked up your one specific school until this week. But a change in the range of five to 15 minutes should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Our ES is starting 25 min. later, and dismissing 40 minutes later- it is a substantial change (and a very long day for the Kindergarteners).

Yes, but most of them are adjusting 5 to 10 minutes. Somehow I think the kindergartners will survive. Nearly a half hour at the end of the day seems to be packing up anyhow.

What's strikes me is that we're hearing very little on these boards from people making the biggest changes -- the high schoolers and middle schoolers. I suspect that's in part because parents are more seasoned with the school system -- they also realize having had kids in MS and perhaps HS as well as ES, that it's not all about them and their kids. Honestly, the people whining about 5 and 10 minute changes at their elementary schools when some middle schoolers will have to be on the bus by 6:30, need to chill and perhaps develop a little resilience if they're going to keep their kids in the public school system. There are a lot of different needs to be met here.

Seriously, you're a jerk. Doesn't affect you, so you don't care.

Plus, plenty of us have kids in elementary, middle, and high school all at once. We're plenty seasoned, thank you.

Not the case at all. When my kids were in elementary they adjusted the time later by 15 minutes. Somehow I survived. And again, I have complete sympathy with someone who's kid's day has shifted by 40 minutes. But people complaining about 5 to 10 minute changes when there are plenty of others in the FCPS facing much bigger changes/hardships just strikes me as entitled. Sorry if that comes off as jerky to you.

You said, and I quote, that the Olde Creek kindergartners who are dealing with the shift "will survive." Perhaps you don't know that Olde Creek's time gets changed, on average, every couple years. The shift in total has been nearly one hour since we've been in the system. Yeah, it's a hardship when parents have to overhaul work schedules and childcare on a regular basis, particularly when it seems few to no other schools in the system get jerked around like that.

[Anonymous]

Maybe FCPS should be offering resiliency presentations to FCPS parents, and not the students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe FCPS should be offering resiliency presentations to FCPS parents, and not the students.

Let me guess--your start time changed 5 minutes or not at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It concerns me that they sent an advance email before posting the schedule....like a warning for us to brace ourselves for big changes.

The changes for elementaries, announced this week, range from five minutes' to fifteen minutes' difference from this year's start or ending times, as far as I can see. Not sure if you consider those big changes. I don't.

The process for changing these times was open to the public, and FCPS notified parents on its web site, by e-mails, on school web sites, etc. of public meetings about start time changes. Those meetings gave information about how much start times would change in ES, MS and HS under each potential option. Though the meetings did not list specific schools (nothing like "Sally Jones Elementary will begin at 8:10 a.m."), they did mention a range of times -- such as, under option one, ES start times would be five to 10 minutes earlier, or under another option, start times would be the same, etc. The options were on their web site for a long time for parents to see, though you could not have looked up your one specific school until this week. But a change in the range of five to 15 minutes should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Our ES is starting 25 min. later, and dismissing 40 minutes later- it is a substantial change (and a very long day for the Kindergarteners).

Yes, but most of them are adjusting 5 to 10 minutes. Somehow I think the kindergartners will survive. Nearly a half hour at the end of the day seems to be packing up anyhow.

What's strikes me is that we're hearing very little on these boards from people making the biggest changes -- the high schoolers and middle schoolers. I suspect that's in part because parents are more seasoned with the school system -- they also realize having had kids in MS and perhaps HS as well as ES, that it's not all about them and their kids. Honestly, the people whining about 5 and 10 minute changes at their elementary schools when some middle schoolers will have to be on the bus by 6:30, need to chill and perhaps develop a little resilience if they're going to keep their kids in the public school system. There are a lot of different needs to be met here.

Seriously, you're a jerk. Doesn't affect you, so you don't care.

Plus, plenty of us have kids in elementary, middle, and high school all at once. We're plenty seasoned, thank you.

I agree with the PP. You adjust your schedule to deal with the public school schedule, or you find another option. The petulant ranting about relatively the changes that were made to accommodate the broader community's request, over an extended period, for later HS start times is truly annoying.

It's cute that you believe that the broader community wanted this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It concerns me that they sent an advance email before posting the schedule....like a warning for us to brace ourselves for big changes.

The changes for elementaries, announced this week, range from five minutes' to fifteen minutes' difference from this year's start or ending times, as far as I can see. Not sure if you consider those big changes. I don't.

The process for changing these times was open to the public, and FCPS notified parents on its web site, by e-mails, on school web sites, etc. of public meetings about start time changes. Those meetings gave information about how much start times would change in ES, MS and HS under each potential option. Though the meetings did not list specific schools (nothing like "Sally Jones Elementary will begin at 8:10 a.m."), they did mention a range of times -- such as, under option one, ES start times would be five to 10 minutes earlier, or under another option, start times would be the same, etc. The options were on their web site for a long time for parents to see, though you could not have looked up your one specific school until this week. But a change in the range of five to 15 minutes should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Our ES is starting 25 min. later, and dismissing 40 minutes later- it is a substantial change (and a very long day for the Kindergarteners).

Yes, but most of them are adjusting 5 to 10 minutes. Somehow I think the kindergartners will survive. Nearly a half hour at the end of the day seems to be packing up anyhow.

What's strikes me is that we're hearing very little on these boards from people making the biggest changes -- the high schoolers and middle schoolers. I suspect that's in part because parents are more seasoned with the school system -- they also realize having had kids in MS and perhaps HS as well as ES, that it's not all about them and their kids. Honestly, the people whining about 5 and 10 minute changes at their elementary schools when some middle schoolers will have to be on the bus by 6:30, need to chill and perhaps develop a little resilience if they're going to keep their kids in the public school system. There are a lot of different needs to be met here.

Seriously, you're a jerk. Doesn't affect you, so you don't care.

Plus, plenty of us have kids in elementary, middle, and high school all at once. We're plenty seasoned, thank you.

I agree with the PP. You adjust your schedule to deal with the public school schedule, or you find another option. The petulant ranting about relatively the changes that were made to accommodate the broader community's request, over an extended period, for later HS start times is truly annoying.

It's cute that you believe that the broader community wanted this.

the poster is partly concerned that according to the link that FCPS posted about the start time changes Old Creek is the ONLY ES that is going longer than a 6:45 instructional day. There seems to be a mistake in the amount of time the kids are in school according to the statement made by FCPS that all ES will be in session for 6:45 hours. Even the principal has not received any explanation as to why Old creek goes beyond the 6:45 hour day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe FCPS should be offering resiliency presentations to FCPS parents, and not the students.

seriously

[Anonymous]

DD goes to Olde Creek. We do PM SACC now. Next year, we will have to do both. We will survive, but it is an extra cost every month.

I get that most schools only changed by 5 or 10 minutes, but 25 minutes is a substantial change and a big pain.

[Anonymous]

And the problem is the schools that have a wait for morning SACC! There isn't enough room gor everyone that needs it. DH and I both have to commute into the city and if the bus comes at 8:20 next year he can't get to work until 9:30 - and we are basically as close in as you can get and still be in Fairfax County.

I think in an are like this one with so many two parent working families, and a cost if living that requires that in many cases, the fact that SACC is not available to all who need it is inexcusable. I'd be happy to pay more for it, have costs be based on income, etc...but they need to have the spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not happy that our elementary school is in the latest group to start and end. It will really hurt the ability to be in after-school activities. I'm thinking my son will do his homework before school most days. Our other child is in private and leaves at 7:30 am for an 8 am start time. What else is he going to do at home between 7:30 and 9:10 when he would leave for the nearby elementary school starting at 9:20.

He can study, read books, work on a puzzle or run around and play. After school activities in ES are to keeps the kids busy. What are you going to be doing?

[Anonymous]

I think in an are like this one with so many two parent working families, and a cost if living that requires that in many cases, the fact that SACC is not available to all who need it is inexcusable. I'd be happy to pay more for it, have costs be based on income, etc...but they need to have the spots.

Suggestion: find a neighborhood babysitter. They do exist.