New school start times survey

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with the early start time for elementary kids is the early finish time. Right now a lot of dual working families can stagger their schedules to make the current times work. Without a significant increase in slots for after school SACC, option 1 isn’t viable.

The opposite is true for option 2. Without a significant increase in before-care SACC spots, it simply doesn’t work for a lot of working parents.

Then again, FCPS doesn’t give a shit about working parents, they probably won’t start now.

So if they (ES) parents can make the current times work, I fail to see how an extra 30 min later (Option 2) would be so devastating. They also are now saying the early schedule won’t work (Option1). Sorry, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

Not everyone has the luxury to have 1 parent cover before and the other parent cover after. Single parents for one, but also where one or both of the parents travels a lot and/or has little flexibility. My job requires me to be in the office by 9 am at the latest. 30 min later would significantly more challenging for me to make that, especially when my spouse is on special assignment or out of town.

NP. Their point was that the elementary schedule is already a joke, moving it back 30 minutes continues to make it a joke, the same as it has always been.

My child’s school begins at 9:15, how do people make that work? Exactly the same as how people will have to make 9:45 work of it passes. 1) get into SACC in the morning, 2) get into those morning daycare vans or 3) hire a babysitter or get a family member to watch your kid & get them to school.

Single parents have a difficult life, but that’s true whether the school begins at 7 or 8 or 9. What does that have to do with this schedule? They have 1 adult instead of 2, life is always going to be more difficult regardless of the schedule.

A dual working household where one or both parents travel a lot of have little flexibility -> how do you get your kid to a 9:15 school now? Do you work from home everyday? How do you get to your office by 9 if your child’s school begins at 9:15?

Dp.. there are really long wait-lists for both before and after care. Like much longer than when my dc number 1 who is now doing fine with the middle school schedule was in sacc. For dc number 1 we got on sacc wait list as soon as we could register and had sacc for the first day of kindergarten, for dc 2 we have at least a two year wait list, maybe longer...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with the early start time for elementary kids is the early finish time. Right now a lot of dual working families can stagger their schedules to make the current times work. Without a significant increase in slots for after school SACC, option 1 isn’t viable.

The opposite is true for option 2. Without a significant increase in before-care SACC spots, it simply doesn’t work for a lot of working parents.

Then again, FCPS doesn’t give a shit about working parents, they probably won’t start now.

So if they (ES) parents can make the current times work, I fail to see how an extra 30 min later (Option 2) would be so devastating. They also are now saying the early schedule won’t work (Option1). Sorry, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

Not everyone has the luxury to have 1 parent cover before and the other parent cover after. Single parents for one, but also where one or both of the parents travels a lot and/or has little flexibility. My job requires me to be in the office by 9 am at the latest. 30 min later would significantly more challenging for me to make that, especially when my spouse is on special assignment or out of town.

To add, just as that creates problems for me before school, I can see how people might have the same problem at the end of the day.

Lots more options for after school care.

I dont understand why this is so hard to understand. Not everyone has an extra $500/mo laying around for just 45 min a day of coverage at some center given that any older neighborhood kid would be unavailable due to the proposed times. My oldest will be in 5th grade next year so they could hold down the fort for that amount of time, but that's really dicey for the younger kids.

[Anonymous]

I want to point out for the "just pay for childcare crowd" that SACC removed the requirement for a parent to be employed a few years ago during COVID. I'm pretty sure our program still has more than 1 kid attending with a SAHM at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with the early start time for elementary kids is the early finish time. Right now a lot of dual working families can stagger their schedules to make the current times work. Without a significant increase in slots for after school SACC, option 1 isn’t viable.

The opposite is true for option 2. Without a significant increase in before-care SACC spots, it simply doesn’t work for a lot of working parents.

Then again, FCPS doesn’t give a shit about working parents, they probably won’t start now.

So if they (ES) parents can make the current times work, I fail to see how an extra 30 min later (Option 2) would be so devastating. They also are now saying the early schedule won’t work (Option1). Sorry, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

Not everyone has the luxury to have 1 parent cover before and the other parent cover after. Single parents for one, but also where one or both of the parents travels a lot and/or has little flexibility. My job requires me to be in the office by 9 am at the latest. 30 min later would significantly more challenging for me to make that, especially when my spouse is on special assignment or out of town.

NP. Their point was that the elementary schedule is already a joke, moving it back 30 minutes continues to make it a joke, the same as it has always been.

My child’s school begins at 9:15, how do people make that work? Exactly the same as how people will have to make 9:45 work of it passes. 1) get into SACC in the morning, 2) get into those morning daycare vans or 3) hire a babysitter or get a family member to watch your kid & get them to school.

Single parents have a difficult life, but that’s true whether the school begins at 7 or 8 or 9. What does that have to do with this schedule? They have 1 adult instead of 2, life is always going to be more difficult regardless of the schedule.

A dual working household where one or both parents travel a lot of have little flexibility -> how do you get your kid to a 9:15 school now? Do you work from home everyday? How do you get to your office by 9 if your child’s school begins at 9:15?

Dp.. there are really long wait-lists for both before and after care. Like much longer than when my dc number 1 who is now doing fine with the middle school schedule was in sacc. For dc number 1 we got on sacc wait list as soon as we could register and had sacc for the first day of kindergarten, for dc 2 we have at least a two year wait list, maybe longer...

Anyone saying “just get before or after care” has clearly not had to register their kid for SACC in recent years.

And don’t forget that a not-insignificant number of families rely on their older kids to watch their younger kids after school, which they can’t do if the older kids are in school. These are very real issues, even if they aren’t to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with the early start time for elementary kids is the early finish time. Right now a lot of dual working families can stagger their schedules to make the current times work. Without a significant increase in slots for after school SACC, option 1 isn’t viable.

The opposite is true for option 2. Without a significant increase in before-care SACC spots, it simply doesn’t work for a lot of working parents.

Then again, FCPS doesn’t give a shit about working parents, they probably won’t start now.

So if they (ES) parents can make the current times work, I fail to see how an extra 30 min later (Option 2) would be so devastating. They also are now saying the early schedule won’t work (Option1). Sorry, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

You fail to see why it's harder for working parents to get their kids to school at 9:50 than at 9:00? If you can't figure out why that is difficult, I can't help you.

Well that’s 50 minutes you idiot. I said 30. They would move the current 9:20 am kids to 9:50 am. The earlier schools will get the 9:20 am slots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with the early start time for elementary kids is the early finish time. Right now a lot of dual working families can stagger their schedules to make the current times work. Without a significant increase in slots for after school SACC, option 1 isn’t viable.

The opposite is true for option 2. Without a significant increase in before-care SACC spots, it simply doesn’t work for a lot of working parents.

Then again, FCPS doesn’t give a shit about working parents, they probably won’t start now.

So if they (ES) parents can make the current times work, I fail to see how an extra 30 min later (Option 2) would be so devastating. They also are now saying the early schedule won’t work (Option1). Sorry, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

You fail to see why it's harder for working parents to get their kids to school at 9:50 than at 9:00? If you can't figure out why that is difficult, I can't help you.

Well that’s 50 minutes you idiot. I said 30. They would move the current 9:20 am kids to 9:50 am. The earlier schools will get the 9:20 am slots.

Sigh. Yes, *I* am the idiot. Knowing that my kids' 9:15 start time will become 9:50 (according to you and no one else) really solves that problem and clears up any logistical hurdles. THANK YOU!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with the early start time for elementary kids is the early finish time. Right now a lot of dual working families can stagger their schedules to make the current times work. Without a significant increase in slots for after school SACC, option 1 isn’t viable.

The opposite is true for option 2. Without a significant increase in before-care SACC spots, it simply doesn’t work for a lot of working parents.

Then again, FCPS doesn’t give a shit about working parents, they probably won’t start now.

So if they (ES) parents can make the current times work, I fail to see how an extra 30 min later (Option 2) would be so devastating. They also are now saying the early schedule won’t work (Option1). Sorry, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

You fail to see why it's harder for working parents to get their kids to school at 9:50 than at 9:00? If you can't figure out why that is difficult, I can't help you.

Well that’s 50 minutes you idiot. I said 30. They would move the current 9:20 am kids to 9:50 am. The earlier schools will get the 9:20 am slots.

Sigh. Yes, *I* am the idiot. Knowing that my kids' 9:15 start time will become 9:50 (according to you and no one else) really solves that problem and clears up any logistical hurdles. THANK YOU!

You can deal with a 35 min delay. Or quit your job. You chose to have kids and sometimes their school schedule interferes with work schedules. Not my problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with the early start time for elementary kids is the early finish time. Right now a lot of dual working families can stagger their schedules to make the current times work. Without a significant increase in slots for after school SACC, option 1 isn’t viable.

The opposite is true for option 2. Without a significant increase in before-care SACC spots, it simply doesn’t work for a lot of working parents.

Then again, FCPS doesn’t give a shit about working parents, they probably won’t start now.

So if they (ES) parents can make the current times work, I fail to see how an extra 30 min later (Option 2) would be so devastating. They also are now saying the early schedule won’t work (Option1). Sorry, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

Not everyone has the luxury to have 1 parent cover before and the other parent cover after. Single parents for one, but also where one or both of the parents travels a lot and/or has little flexibility. My job requires me to be in the office by 9 am at the latest. 30 min later would significantly more challenging for me to make that, especially when my spouse is on special assignment or out of town.

To add, just as that creates problems for me before school, I can see how people might have the same problem at the end of the day.

Lots more options for after school care.

I dont understand why this is so hard to understand. Not everyone has an extra $500/mo laying around for just 45 min a day of coverage at some center given that any older neighborhood kid would be unavailable due to the proposed times. My oldest will be in 5th grade next year so they could hold down the fort for that amount of time, but that's really dicey for the younger kids.

This is a common problem all throughout America. Not an FCPS problem. Not FCPS’s job to fix the problem for you. Many families all across America are paying $1000 a month for before and after school care that is not offered at the school. You chose to have one or more children, so you take care of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with the early start time for elementary kids is the early finish time. Right now a lot of dual working families can stagger their schedules to make the current times work. Without a significant increase in slots for after school SACC, option 1 isn’t viable.

The opposite is true for option 2. Without a significant increase in before-care SACC spots, it simply doesn’t work for a lot of working parents.

Then again, FCPS doesn’t give a shit about working parents, they probably won’t start now.

So if they (ES) parents can make the current times work, I fail to see how an extra 30 min later (Option 2) would be so devastating. They also are now saying the early schedule won’t work (Option1). Sorry, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

You fail to see why it's harder for working parents to get their kids to school at 9:50 than at 9:00? If you can't figure out why that is difficult, I can't help you.

Well that’s 50 minutes you idiot. I said 30. They would move the current 9:20 am kids to 9:50 am. The earlier schools will get the 9:20 am slots.

Sigh. Yes, *I* am the idiot. Knowing that my kids' 9:15 start time will become 9:50 (according to you and no one else) really solves that problem and clears up any logistical hurdles. THANK YOU!

Please list the school systems that begin elementary school at 9:50.

Again, as a former elementary teacher, a 9:50 start for elementary school would be egregious.

If this is a bus issue, then cut off all special programs (except special ed) that require busing beyond the base school.
Put the kids' education first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with the early start time for elementary kids is the early finish time. Right now a lot of dual working families can stagger their schedules to make the current times work. Without a significant increase in slots for after school SACC, option 1 isn’t viable.

The opposite is true for option 2. Without a significant increase in before-care SACC spots, it simply doesn’t work for a lot of working parents.

Then again, FCPS doesn’t give a shit about working parents, they probably won’t start now.

So if they (ES) parents can make the current times work, I fail to see how an extra 30 min later (Option 2) would be so devastating. They also are now saying the early schedule won’t work (Option1). Sorry, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

You fail to see why it's harder for working parents to get their kids to school at 9:50 than at 9:00? If you can't figure out why that is difficult, I can't help you.

Well that’s 50 minutes you idiot. I said 30. They would move the current 9:20 am kids to 9:50 am. The earlier schools will get the 9:20 am slots.

Sigh. Yes, *I* am the idiot. Knowing that my kids' 9:15 start time will become 9:50 (according to you and no one else) really solves that problem and clears up any logistical hurdles. THANK YOU!

You can deal with a 35 min delay. Or quit your job. You chose to have kids and sometimes their school schedule interferes with work schedules. Not my problem.

Well teachers will also be moving to other districts with this start time. I know of at least 5 neighbors who are ES teachers who said this. I don’t think the 9:50 time will pass the SB. They all agreed in spring it was problematic for ES to start that late. ES makes up the largest population in the county because preschool is included in that population. I think it will either be Option 1 or nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Option 2 is the obvious choice. Survey results have to be tilted like 90-10.

In what universe is starting elem at 10AM the "obvious choice"? What 2-working-parent families are going to be able to make that happen? Paid before care will be the *only* option and slots are often tough to find already.

At least starting earlier you'd be able to take a lot of the older elem kids and let them come home to an empty house; it's not as easy to have the elem kids get up and put themselves on the bus by themselves.

Option 1 seems to be the obvious choice to me. Younger kids circadian rhythm means they all basically wake up with the freaking sun anyways. My elem kids CAN'T sleep past 7am- so why not have them go to school at the beginning of the day, then when they're done they'll have time to come home and play outside?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with the early start time for elementary kids is the early finish time. Right now a lot of dual working families can stagger their schedules to make the current times work. Without a significant increase in slots for after school SACC, option 1 isn’t viable.

The opposite is true for option 2. Without a significant increase in before-care SACC spots, it simply doesn’t work for a lot of working parents.

Then again, FCPS doesn’t give a shit about working parents, they probably won’t start now.

So if they (ES) parents can make the current times work, I fail to see how an extra 30 min later (Option 2) would be so devastating. They also are now saying the early schedule won’t work (Option1). Sorry, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

Not everyone has the luxury to have 1 parent cover before and the other parent cover after. Single parents for one, but also where one or both of the parents travels a lot and/or has little flexibility. My job requires me to be in the office by 9 am at the latest. 30 min later would significantly more challenging for me to make that, especially when my spouse is on special assignment or out of town.

To add, just as that creates problems for me before school, I can see how people might have the same problem at the end of the day.

Lots more options for after school care.

I dont understand why this is so hard to understand. Not everyone has an extra $500/mo laying around for just 45 min a day of coverage at some center given that any older neighborhood kid would be unavailable due to the proposed times. My oldest will be in 5th grade next year so they could hold down the fort for that amount of time, but that's really dicey for the younger kids.

This is a common problem all throughout America. Not an FCPS problem. Not FCPS’s job to fix the problem for you. Many families all across America are paying $1000 a month for before and after school care that is not offered at the school. You chose to have one or more children, so you take care of them.

By all means, but I don't want to hear any word about "declining birth rates". Super short sighted. It really does benefit society to accomodate working parents as best as possible here.

[Anonymous]

Are you nuts? Ever taught young kids? Care at all about their education? They should start by 9. 8 preferabl6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Option 2 is the obvious choice. Survey results have to be tilted like 90-10.

In what universe is starting elem at 10AM the "obvious choice"? What 2-working-parent families are going to be able to make that happen? Paid before care will be the *only* option and slots are often tough to find already.

At least starting earlier you'd be able to take a lot of the older elem kids and let them come home to an empty house; it's not as easy to have the elem kids get up and put themselves on the bus by themselves.

Option 1 seems to be the obvious choice to me. Younger kids circadian rhythm means they all basically wake up with the freaking sun anyways. My elem kids CAN'T sleep past 7am- so why not have them go to school at the beginning of the day, then when they're done they'll have time to come home and play outside?

I love how y'all seem to think everyone is in a 2-parent family. Lots of single parents in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

I think those advocating for Option 2 must be SAHM or Workfrom home mom