Propose your own solution for bell times!

[Anonymous]

Other threads are heavy on acrimony, light on substance.

Here is a chance to have your plan heard and critiqued, in a constructive way!

At what time should we start elementary, middle and high schools, and why?

Thank you for participating.

[Anonymous]

No changes. They have been fine like this since I have been going to school. Families have made it work. Changing anything disrupts many people. And since close to 3/4 of the teachers did not want bell time changes, that should have been a done deal for the BOE, who instead got not bullied by parents of teens who can not seem to control them or their bedtime, so they make the county spend millions for all these studies. For what 20 minutes? What a joke.

[Anonymous]

Schools should give high school kids less homework. Parents should make sure kids go to bed earlier.

[Anonymous]

And since close to 3/4 of the teachers did not want bell time changes, that should have been a done deal for the BOE

No way. Teachers are employees responding based on their preferred work schedule not what is best for students. The decision needs to be about the students.

[Anonymous]

Elementary first, then middle and high at the same time at 8:30. take advantage of public transportation for high schoolers. Why maintain so many buses?

Or, have parents pay a bus fee and waive it for FARMS families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And since close to 3/4 of the teachers did not want bell time changes, that should have been a done deal for the BOE

No way. Teachers are employees responding based on their preferred work schedule not what is best for students. The decision needs to be about the students.

+1. Just like a successful business prioritizes its customers' needs, not just what its employees want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Elementary first, then middle and high at the same time at 8:30. take advantage of public transportation for high schoolers. Why maintain so many buses?

Or, have parents pay a bus fee and waive it for FARMS families.

As an elem parent, I agree. I hate that my kids will now be getting home after 4pm. It just too late!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Elementary first, then middle and high at the same time at 8:30. take advantage of public transportation for high schoolers. Why maintain so many buses?

Or, have parents pay a bus fee and waive it for FARMS families.

I would be all in favor of public transportation for high schoolers -- if the county's public transportation system were adequate for the task. But it's not. Let's improve public transportation first, then revisit the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Elementary first, then middle and high at the same time at 8:30. take advantage of public transportation for high schoolers. Why maintain so many buses?

Or, have parents pay a bus fee and waive it for FARMS families.

I like this idea, actually. It's the school bus issue that makes every solution so costly or problemmatic. Do away with that and you have lots of good options for start times.

[Anonymous]

I think the most frustrating aspect of the experience is that other school districts in the area found a way to realign the school to serve the students' best interests. The data are quite clear that starting HS (I think MS is far less of an issue) around 9 am will allow those students to perform to their best abilities, it is a shame that some kids will underperform simply because of bus logistics. It is also a shame that the school district could not find $2 million in their very large budget, and then the teachers' opposition was also depressing as it was clear that the teachers in HS were putting their own schedule preference ahead of the best interests of their students.

[Anonymous]

The Post article says that slightly less than half of teachers responded to the bell times survey, and of those responding 63% wanted no changes to bell times. 63% of less than 50% of teachers is not a majority, at best it's 1/3 or maybe even closer to 1/4 of teachers.

For some reason the school system choose to describe this as a majority of teachers and the Post followed suit.

The take away from this is that slightly over half of teachers (an actual majority) didn't care enough to even respond.

[Anonymous]

Here's the Post article im referencing

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/teachers-overwhelmingly-oppose-later-high-school-start-times-in-montgomery/2015/02/06/c53daf22-ae19-11e4-abe8-e1ef60ca26de_story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the most frustrating aspect of the experience is that other school districts in the area found a way to realign the school to serve the students' best interests. The data are quite clear that starting HS (I think MS is far less of an issue) around 9 am will allow those students to perform to their best abilities, it is a shame that some kids will underperform simply because of bus logistics. It is also a shame that the school district could not find $2 million in their very large budget, and then the teachers' opposition was also depressing as it was clear that the teachers in HS were putting their own schedule preference ahead of the best interests of their students.

Either that, or the teachers in high school are in the best position to know whether it would really make a difference -- and evidently the majority thought that it wouldn't.

Also, teachers have a right to advocate for themselves.

[Anonymous]

I agree that most teachers were highly likely replying to the survey from an employee perspective. While that is important employee views should not be the deciding factor in an issue of broader relevance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the most frustrating aspect of the experience is that other school districts in the area found a way to realign the school to serve the students' best interests. The data are quite clear that starting HS (I think MS is far less of an issue) around 9 am will allow those students to perform to their best abilities, it is a shame that some kids will underperform simply because of bus logistics. It is also a shame that the school district could not find $2 million in their very large budget, and then the teachers' opposition was also depressing as it was clear that the teachers in HS were putting their own schedule preference ahead of the best interests of their students.

No, the teachers multiplied time were references stating that they don't believe (and showed other school districts that aren't changing that much) that later start times would not increase student's sleep. It just pushes the bell time later in the afternoon, sports get done later, and kids would have to stay up later and still be just as sleep deprived.