middle school start times

[Anonymous]

There is no way a school system with hundreds of schools can operate with everyone on the same schedule. Each bus and driver has FOUR runs every morning and afternoon.

If they had the absolutely MASSIVE infusion of cash in perpetuity that it would take to pay for 2-3x as many buses and drivers, then it would still be completely irresponsible to spend that on transportation rather than actual EDUCATIONAL needs like smaller class sizes, more teachers b/c the school bell time is less than ideal.

Some of you are just so incredibly stupid, I can't even.

[Anonymous]

I think this is one of the few areas FCPS has done well on. They are maximizing their transportation resources, and the most painful bell schedule--middle school--is only for two years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no way a school system with hundreds of schools can operate with everyone on the same schedule. Each bus and driver has FOUR runs every morning and afternoon.

If they had the absolutely MASSIVE infusion of cash in perpetuity that it would take to pay for 2-3x as many buses and drivers, then it would still be completely irresponsible to spend that on transportation rather than actual EDUCATIONAL needs like smaller class sizes, more teachers b/c the school bell time is less than ideal.

Some of you are just so incredibly stupid, I can't even.

No one is saying the schools need to be at the same time. But there are definitely ways to make transportation more efficient and to make sure kids are actually focused and learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So sad that we don't want more for our kids other than school, extracurriculars and homework... rinse and repeat.

They go to school, they have homework, they can choose extra curriculars.

Some kids choose not to do extra curriculars, MS is when kids start dropping out of rec sports, so they have more down time.

Some kids will choose after school clubs and no activities outside of that, so have down time when they get home.

Some kids will choose clubs and/or after school activities. They might have less down time but they, presumably, enjoy the activities that they are doing.

I am not sure what else you are thinking there needs to be time for.

My kids happens to enjoy rec soccer, soccer, and Scouts so he is planning on that. He has a few clubs that he is interested in at MS that he is going to give a go. He'll get home at the same time as he did from ES on the days he does clubs, maybe a bit earlier. He'll get home 90 minutes earlier then ES on the days he doesn't do clubs. He'll have time to do homework at school, I am not sure how much he will be bringing home but we'll figure that balance out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So sad that we don't want more for our kids other than school, extracurriculars and homework... rinse and repeat.

They go to school, they have homework, they can choose extra curriculars.

Some kids choose not to do extra curriculars, MS is when kids start dropping out of rec sports, so they have more down time.

Some kids will choose after school clubs and no activities outside of that, so have down time when they get home.

Some kids will choose clubs and/or after school activities. They might have less down time but they, presumably, enjoy the activities that they are doing.

I am not sure what else you are thinking there needs to be time for.

My kids happens to enjoy rec soccer, soccer, and Scouts so he is planning on that. He has a few clubs that he is interested in at MS that he is going to give a go. He'll get home at the same time as he did from ES on the days he does clubs, maybe a bit earlier. He'll get home 90 minutes earlier then ES on the days he doesn't do clubs. He'll have time to do homework at school, I am not sure how much he will be bringing home but we'll figure that balance out.

What about time to hang out with friends or family? Or just downtime or free time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder what is happening on the progress with middle school start times. My youngest is starting 6th this year and I want the change to be asap!!

Nothing is changing b/c they do not have the funds to hire redundant bus drivers and buy hundreds of new buses. The little amount of changes for TJ/AAP these silly posters are suggesting would be a drop in the bucket.

Your kid will suffer like all the other FCPS MS kids before and after him. You aren't special and neither is he.

Then why did they even bother with having all those meetings?

The plan is they draft bell schedule options in Fall 2024 and makes a school board presentation in January 2025.

We will see.

Praying they can make it work!!!!

Why? Thousands of kids have gone through middle school with these start times. Your kid will be fine.

It's clear we can't afford the buses or the have drivers to make it work. Move on.

What a stupid question!!!!

How so? Did you drink the Kool Aid about later start times? I feel bad for you.

You don’t understand why someone wouldn’t want to have to start school at 7:30 am?

Sorry, you can't operate a $3 billion school system on the whims and desires of one person who can't get out of bed.

No where in my post did I say that. I simply said I hope the start time changes and I hope they can make it work. As to why? I think we all know why.

Please educate us as to why. Thousands of kids have gone through middle school with the current times with no issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So sad that we don't want more for our kids other than school, extracurriculars and homework... rinse and repeat.

They go to school, they have homework, they can choose extra curriculars.

Some kids choose not to do extra curriculars, MS is when kids start dropping out of rec sports, so they have more down time.

Some kids will choose after school clubs and no activities outside of that, so have down time when they get home.

Some kids will choose clubs and/or after school activities. They might have less down time but they, presumably, enjoy the activities that they are doing.

I am not sure what else you are thinking there needs to be time for.

My kids happens to enjoy rec soccer, soccer, and Scouts so he is planning on that. He has a few clubs that he is interested in at MS that he is going to give a go. He'll get home at the same time as he did from ES on the days he does clubs, maybe a bit earlier. He'll get home 90 minutes earlier then ES on the days he doesn't do clubs. He'll have time to do homework at school, I am not sure how much he will be bringing home but we'll figure that balance out.

What about time to hang out with friends or family? Or just downtime or free time?

His friends are in the various activities he does, that is where he met them and got to know them. He hangs out with them on the weekends. I'd put good money on them being in the same clubs.

He chooses these activities, these are not things we told him he has to do. He likes doing these things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder what is happening on the progress with middle school start times. My youngest is starting 6th this year and I want the change to be asap!!

Nothing is changing b/c they do not have the funds to hire redundant bus drivers and buy hundreds of new buses. The little amount of changes for TJ/AAP these silly posters are suggesting would be a drop in the bucket.

Your kid will suffer like all the other FCPS MS kids before and after him. You aren't special and neither is he.

Then why did they even bother with having all those meetings?

The plan is they draft bell schedule options in Fall 2024 and makes a school board presentation in January 2025.

We will see.

Praying they can make it work!!!!

Why? Thousands of kids have gone through middle school with these start times. Your kid will be fine.

It's clear we can't afford the buses or the have drivers to make it work. Move on.

What a stupid question!!!!

How so? Did you drink the Kool Aid about later start times? I feel bad for you.

You don’t understand why someone wouldn’t want to have to start school at 7:30 am?

Sorry, you can't operate a $3 billion school system on the whims and desires of one person who can't get out of bed.

No where in my post did I say that. I simply said I hope the start time changes and I hope they can make it work. As to why? I think we all know why.

Please educate us as to why. Thousands of kids have gone through middle school with the current times with no issues.

Exactly. Get your kid to bed at a decent hour, and get 'em up to get to school on time. The world keeps turning.

[Anonymous]

The research consistently shows preteens and adolescents need more sleep - that’s why they ended up giving the high schools a bit later time. Now they are finally realizing that middle schoolers are also in the same boat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder what is happening on the progress with middle school start times. My youngest is starting 6th this year and I want the change to be asap!!

Nothing is changing b/c they do not have the funds to hire redundant bus drivers and buy hundreds of new buses. The little amount of changes for TJ/AAP these silly posters are suggesting would be a drop in the bucket.

Your kid will suffer like all the other FCPS MS kids before and after him. You aren't special and neither is he.

Then why did they even bother with having all those meetings?

The plan is they draft bell schedule options in Fall 2024 and makes a school board presentation in January 2025.

We will see.

Praying they can make it work!!!!

Why? Thousands of kids have gone through middle school with these start times. Your kid will be fine.

It's clear we can't afford the buses or the have drivers to make it work. Move on.

What a stupid question!!!!

How so? Did you drink the Kool Aid about later start times? I feel bad for you.

You don’t understand why someone wouldn’t want to have to start school at 7:30 am?

Sorry, you can't operate a $3 billion school system on the whims and desires of one person who can't get out of bed.

No where in my post did I say that. I simply said I hope the start time changes and I hope they can make it work. As to why? I think we all know why.

Please educate us as to why. Thousands of kids have gone through middle school with the current times with no issues.

There are obviously issues, or else why is there a discussion about changing the time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder what is happening on the progress with middle school start times. My youngest is starting 6th this year and I want the change to be asap!!

Nothing is changing b/c they do not have the funds to hire redundant bus drivers and buy hundreds of new buses. The little amount of changes for TJ/AAP these silly posters are suggesting would be a drop in the bucket.

Your kid will suffer like all the other FCPS MS kids before and after him. You aren't special and neither is he.

Then why did they even bother with having all those meetings?

The plan is they draft bell schedule options in Fall 2024 and makes a school board presentation in January 2025.

We will see.

Praying they can make it work!!!!

Why? Thousands of kids have gone through middle school with these start times. Your kid will be fine.

It's clear we can't afford the buses or the have drivers to make it work. Move on.

What a stupid question!!!!

How so? Did you drink the Kool Aid about later start times? I feel bad for you.

You don’t understand why someone wouldn’t want to have to start school at 7:30 am?

Sorry, you can't operate a $3 billion school system on the whims and desires of one person who can't get out of bed.

No where in my post did I say that. I simply said I hope the start time changes and I hope they can make it work. As to why? I think we all know why.

Please educate us as to why. Thousands of kids have gone through middle school with the current times with no issues.

There are obviously issues, or else why is there a discussion about changing the time?

Exactly. PP is being deliberately obtuse. FCPS itself initiated the discussion on middle school start times. They are aware of the research that shows it’s better for pre teens and teens to get more sleep.

[Anonymous]

The ES kids should be out by 2:30 or 3. That we have 6-year olds going until 4:15 is insanity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This. I kept DD at the base school vs center for elementary. She’s now in MS and doing just as well, if not better, than the center kids. Meanwhile, we have buses coming to our neighborhood to pick-up 2-3 AAP kids when our base school is perfectly acceptable. It’s a huge waste of resources.

Maybe you don't understand how buses work? Our base school is a center school. There are 10 full buses that pick up and drop off each day. The buses aren't empty. They are all full.

This. Our center's busses are all full. They just have longer routes and pick up kids from a broader area, whereas my kids (for whom the school is also our base) at one point had a bus with just two stops because there were so many kids at those two stops that they alone filled the bus.

Yup - bussing to AAP centers (1) takes up a lot of busses and (2) keeps those busses on the road for a long time. If we eliminated bussing to choice schools, we would solve the bus problem, but AAP mommies won't allow it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no way a school system with hundreds of schools can operate with everyone on the same schedule. Each bus and driver has FOUR runs every morning and afternoon.

If they had the absolutely MASSIVE infusion of cash in perpetuity that it would take to pay for 2-3x as many buses and drivers, then it would still be completely irresponsible to spend that on transportation rather than actual EDUCATIONAL needs like smaller class sizes, more teachers b/c the school bell time is less than ideal.

Some of you are just so incredibly stupid, I can't even.

No one is saying the schools need to be at the same time. But there are definitely ways to make transportation more efficient and to make sure kids are actually focused and learning.

No one has actually suggested anything financially viable. What ways?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This. I kept DD at the base school vs center for elementary. She’s now in MS and doing just as well, if not better, than the center kids. Meanwhile, we have buses coming to our neighborhood to pick-up 2-3 AAP kids when our base school is perfectly acceptable. It’s a huge waste of resources.

Maybe you don't understand how buses work? Our base school is a center school. There are 10 full buses that pick up and drop off each day. The buses aren't empty. They are all full.

This. Our center's busses are all full. They just have longer routes and pick up kids from a broader area, whereas my kids (for whom the school is also our base) at one point had a bus with just two stops because there were so many kids at those two stops that they alone filled the bus.

Yup - bussing to AAP centers (1) takes up a lot of busses and (2) keeps those busses on the road for a long time. If we eliminated bussing to choice schools, we would solve the bus problem, but AAP mommies won't allow it.

Where are your numbers to support this? I would be absolutely shocked if this freed up even a twentieth of the number of buses and drivers you would need to change the bell schedules.