Middle School start times

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ideal, to me, is to leave ES start times where they are and have all middle schools join the high school start time, like the secondary school middle school students do. Of course, this seems in possible in terms of bus availability, bus driver availability, and budget. So, I say just leave it. I have a 9th grader who did fine at an early start middle school (he actually liked the afternoon down time before evening sports started up) and one who will start middle next year. I just don't think it's worth all the upheaval to try to change the middle school start times. Certainly not at the expense of making a ridiculous elementary schedule, which would last for 7 years of a student's life!

Agree. And I have a 7th grader and 9th grader so ES times will not impact us at all, but I still recognize it is ridiculous. Early MS start was/is really hard on my kids, but it is two years. Two years. I'd rather a crappy schedule for two years than 4 or 7!

30 min later isn’t that crappy for anyone.

You keep saying this but it’s not true. And you’ll find that out when the school board actually listens to the concerns of all those other parents.

[Anonymous]

Hopefully the School Board will get all of FCPS closer to a start time of 8:30am which is the AAP recommended time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

They want to start elementary school at basically 10am? I am screaming this is WILD.

No, Scenario C2 as the OP pointed out has MIDDLE SCHOOL starting at 9:40 and ending at 4:25. Elementary Schools would run 8a - 2:45 or 9:10 - 3:55, and HS 8:30-3:15.

I'm gonna say that this will completely throw a wrench in after school activities for that age group. You're going to have them getting home at 5pm, and then activities running 7-9? 7:30 - 9:30? I feel like this is just going to push 12 and 13yo kids to go to bed even later because they go to school later, which is counter to the entire point of this exercise.

At this point, just leave it like it is and shuffle through the 2 years of Middle School with the early wake up/rise. Yikes.

MS parents wanted a later start time. So they’d start at 9:40. Mission accomplished.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ideal, to me, is to leave ES start times where they are and have all middle schools join the high school start time, like the secondary school middle school students do. Of course, this seems in possible in terms of bus availability, bus driver availability, and budget. So, I say just leave it. I have a 9th grader who did fine at an early start middle school (he actually liked the afternoon down time before evening sports started up) and one who will start middle next year. I just don't think it's worth all the upheaval to try to change the middle school start times. Certainly not at the expense of making a ridiculous elementary schedule, which would last for 7 years of a student's life!

Agree. And I have a 7th grader and 9th grader so ES times will not impact us at all, but I still recognize it is ridiculous. Early MS start was/is really hard on my kids, but it is two years. Two years. I'd rather a crappy schedule for two years than 4 or 7!

30 min later isn’t that crappy for anyone.

You keep saying this but it’s not true. And you’ll find that out when the school board actually listens to the concerns of all those other parents.

lol. Sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They want to start elementary school at basically 10am? I am screaming this is WILD.

No, Scenario C2 as the OP pointed out has MIDDLE SCHOOL starting at 9:40 and ending at 4:25. Elementary Schools would run 8a - 2:45 or 9:10 - 3:55, and HS 8:30-3:15.

I'm gonna say that this will completely throw a wrench in after school activities for that age group. You're going to have them getting home at 5pm, and then activities running 7-9? 7:30 - 9:30? I feel like this is just going to push 12 and 13yo kids to go to bed even later because they go to school later, which is counter to the entire point of this exercise.

At this point, just leave it like it is and shuffle through the 2 years of Middle School with the early wake up/rise. Yikes.

MS parents wanted a later start time. So they’d start at 9:40. Mission accomplished.

Correction: start times is NOT something that current MS parents lobbied for and are not ones making changes happen. 10 years ago the school board determined start times should be later but only implemented for HS and said they would “quickly” revisit for MS. What’s going on now is that quick follow up to 10 year old plan. And beyond that, current MS kids now will not be in MS when this rolls out- FCPS knows this. The reason they sought input from current MS parents and current MS students was to get real time experience input. So many of these posts read the current MS are actively engaging in sabotage. Everyone will get further if direct ire (or praise) to school board if want to see changes to what happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They want to start elementary school at basically 10am? I am screaming this is WILD.

No, Scenario C2 as the OP pointed out has MIDDLE SCHOOL starting at 9:40 and ending at 4:25. Elementary Schools would run 8a - 2:45 or 9:10 - 3:55, and HS 8:30-3:15.

I'm gonna say that this will completely throw a wrench in after school activities for that age group. You're going to have them getting home at 5pm, and then activities running 7-9? 7:30 - 9:30? I feel like this is just going to push 12 and 13yo kids to go to bed even later because they go to school later, which is counter to the entire point of this exercise.

At this point, just leave it like it is and shuffle through the 2 years of Middle School with the early wake up/rise. Yikes.

MS parents wanted a later start time. So they’d start at 9:40. Mission accomplished.

Correction: start times is NOT something that current MS parents lobbied for and are not ones making changes happen. 10 years ago the school board determined start times should be later but only implemented for HS and said they would “quickly” revisit for MS. What’s going on now is that quick follow up to 10 year old plan. And beyond that, current MS kids now will not be in MS when this rolls out- FCPS knows this. The reason they sought input from current MS parents and current MS students was to get real time experience input. So many of these posts read the current MS are actively engaging in sabotage. Everyone will get further if direct ire (or praise) to school board if want to see changes to what happening.

No current MS parent cares what happens to MS as all changes will be after their kids out. Like other parents, they are just watching to see what changes at MS may do to HS. This is not all some sinister plot by current MS parents to change ES start times. Call your school board re with concerns if want your voice heard and stop blaming other parents on this board- they have as little say as you do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They want to start elementary school at basically 10am? I am screaming this is WILD.

No, Scenario C2 as the OP pointed out has MIDDLE SCHOOL starting at 9:40 and ending at 4:25. Elementary Schools would run 8a - 2:45 or 9:10 - 3:55, and HS 8:30-3:15.

I'm gonna say that this will completely throw a wrench in after school activities for that age group. You're going to have them getting home at 5pm, and then activities running 7-9? 7:30 - 9:30? I feel like this is just going to push 12 and 13yo kids to go to bed even later because they go to school later, which is counter to the entire point of this exercise.

At this point, just leave it like it is and shuffle through the 2 years of Middle School with the early wake up/rise. Yikes.

MS parents wanted a later start time. So they’d start at 9:40. Mission accomplished.

Correction: start times is NOT something that current MS parents lobbied for and are not ones making changes happen. 10 years ago the school board determined start times should be later but only implemented for HS and said they would “quickly” revisit for MS. What’s going on now is that quick follow up to 10 year old plan. And beyond that, current MS kids now will not be in MS when this rolls out- FCPS knows this. The reason they sought input from current MS parents and current MS students was to get real time experience input. So many of these posts read the current MS are actively engaging in sabotage. Everyone will get further if direct ire (or praise) to school board if want to see changes to what happening.

No current MS parent cares what happens to MS as all changes will be after their kids out. Like other parents, they are just watching to see what changes at MS may do to HS. This is not all some sinister plot by current MS parents to change ES start times. Call your school board re with concerns if want your voice heard and stop blaming other parents on this board- they have as little say as you do.

+1

[Anonymous]

Op, you need to calm down. geez.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, you need to calm down. geez.

OP didn’t seem not calm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ideal, to me, is to leave ES start times where they are and have all middle schools join the high school start time, like the secondary school middle school students do. Of course, this seems in possible in terms of bus availability, bus driver availability, and budget. So, I say just leave it. I have a 9th grader who did fine at an early start middle school (he actually liked the afternoon down time before evening sports started up) and one who will start middle next year. I just don't think it's worth all the upheaval to try to change the middle school start times. Certainly not at the expense of making a ridiculous elementary schedule, which would last for 7 years of a student's life!

Agree. And I have a 7th grader and 9th grader so ES times will not impact us at all, but I still recognize it is ridiculous. Early MS start was/is really hard on my kids, but it is two years. Two years. I'd rather a crappy schedule for two years than 4 or 7!

30 min later isn’t that crappy for anyone.

It is for the elementary students will get home after 5:00pm. The current late start schedule is already really hard on my kids. We bought our house before we had children and it never occurred to me at that time that we should be checking the start and end times for elementary school. I just assumed that kids got out at 3:30 like they seem to do everywhere else in the country, but nope, 4:15, which means my child gets home at 4:45 (we are the last bus stop, which makes it even worse). I mean, great, it works out well for me and my work schedule, but it does NOT work out for my children who are a mess by the time they get home (even my 4th grader who has been doing this for years). Adding a half hour to that will be a disaster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ideal, to me, is to leave ES start times where they are and have all middle schools join the high school start time, like the secondary school middle school students do. Of course, this seems in possible in terms of bus availability, bus driver availability, and budget. So, I say just leave it. I have a 9th grader who did fine at an early start middle school (he actually liked the afternoon down time before evening sports started up) and one who will start middle next year. I just don't think it's worth all the upheaval to try to change the middle school start times. Certainly not at the expense of making a ridiculous elementary schedule, which would last for 7 years of a student's life!

Agree. And I have a 7th grader and 9th grader so ES times will not impact us at all, but I still recognize it is ridiculous. Early MS start was/is really hard on my kids, but it is two years. Two years. I'd rather a crappy schedule for two years than 4 or 7!

30 min later isn’t that crappy for anyone.

It is for the elementary students will get home after 5:00pm. The current late start schedule is already really hard on my kids. We bought our house before we had children and it never occurred to me at that time that we should be checking the start and end times for elementary school. I just assumed that kids got out at 3:30 like they seem to do everywhere else in the country, but nope, 4:15, which means my child gets home at 4:45 (we are the last bus stop, which makes it even worse). I mean, great, it works out well for me and my work schedule, but it does NOT work out for my children who are a mess by the time they get home (even my 4th grader who has been doing this for years). Adding a half hour to that will be a disaster.

The latest dismissal time in option E was actually 4:35 pm I believe. No one would go until 4:45 pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ideal, to me, is to leave ES start times where they are and have all middle schools join the high school start time, like the secondary school middle school students do. Of course, this seems in possible in terms of bus availability, bus driver availability, and budget. So, I say just leave it. I have a 9th grader who did fine at an early start middle school (he actually liked the afternoon down time before evening sports started up) and one who will start middle next year. I just don't think it's worth all the upheaval to try to change the middle school start times. Certainly not at the expense of making a ridiculous elementary schedule, which would last for 7 years of a student's life!

Agree. And I have a 7th grader and 9th grader so ES times will not impact us at all, but I still recognize it is ridiculous. Early MS start was/is really hard on my kids, but it is two years. Two years. I'd rather a crappy schedule for two years than 4 or 7!

30 min later isn’t that crappy for anyone.

It is for the elementary students will get home after 5:00pm. The current late start schedule is already really hard on my kids. We bought our house before we had children and it never occurred to me at that time that we should be checking the start and end times for elementary school. I just assumed that kids got out at 3:30 like they seem to do everywhere else in the country, but nope, 4:15, which means my child gets home at 4:45 (we are the last bus stop, which makes it even worse). I mean, great, it works out well for me and my work schedule, but it does NOT work out for my children who are a mess by the time they get home (even my 4th grader who has been doing this for years). Adding a half hour to that will be a disaster.

The latest dismissal time in option E was actually 4:35 pm I believe. No one would go until 4:45 pm.

She said her kid gets home at 4:45 currently on the bus. So 30 mins later means her kids will be getting home at 5:15ish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was an elementary school teacher. The teacher is correct. Prime time for learning is first thing in the a.m. Later afternoon gets really sluggish. I would never have reading or math in the afternoon unless absolutely necessary. Of course, where I taught, the classroom teacher had control of the schedule--except for specials. lunch, and recess.

And,kids are ready to go home and play. Do you really want to push elementary school so that kids are playing video games in the morning before they come to school? They need time outside. 8:00 start is perfect.

I don’t think those in charge care about kids learning or a “perfect” schedule. Why would they? The only things they mention in the PowerPoint slides about why they liked option E was because it costs them nothing and it’s easy to implement. Nowhere did they make any claims about it being what’s best for kids or for learning. I can see why people are mad, but FCPS never pretended to care in the first place.

At least teachers have a choice - they can transfer to a different school with better hours. I know a few teachers who changed schools because they hated the late schedule. I encourage all teachers to do what’s best for themselves. As for the kids who are stuck with the schedule, they just have to get through it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was an elementary school teacher. The teacher is correct. Prime time for learning is first thing in the a.m. Later afternoon gets really sluggish. I would never have reading or math in the afternoon unless absolutely necessary. Of course, where I taught, the classroom teacher had control of the schedule--except for specials. lunch, and recess.

And,kids are ready to go home and play. Do you really want to push elementary school so that kids are playing video games in the morning before they come to school? They need time outside. 8:00 start is perfect.

I don’t think those in charge care about kids learning or a “perfect” schedule. Why would they? The only things they mention in the PowerPoint slides about why they liked option E was because it costs them nothing and it’s easy to implement. Nowhere did they make any claims about it being what’s best for kids or for learning. I can see why people are mad, but FCPS never pretended to care in the first place.

At least teachers have a choice - they can transfer to a different school with better hours. I know a few teachers who changed schools because they hated the late schedule. I encourage all teachers to do what’s best for themselves. As for the kids who are stuck with the schedule, they just have to get through it.

Different poster. The issue is teachers would transfer to other districts. About 1/2 of staff live outside of FCPS. The commute won’t be worth it anymore. The districts are literally competing for candidates. This was a concern brougtht up at work session.

[Anonymous]

If buses are in that short a supply, get rid of AAP centers and magnet schools.