Petition: Later MCPS school start times

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think the down county consortium should test this approach and use a later start time at one of the DCC high schools. The density of ES is high enough here that you might even be able to free up the right number of busses by give people a choice between a late vs early ES. This would let MCPS test the idea without forcing anyone into it. If enough people want it, you can grow the number of schools doing it and if it causes issues or no one actually wants to live with what a later hs start time means, they can discontinue it.

How about HS 9:00a-3:45p. Is that really too late to start practice for athletic teens?

Our swim starts at 3:45, so yes, slight issue. And, there are morning practices as well. Our school swim practices start either early in the AM or 3 PM. Not including sports and other activities for our kids. Plus homework. That 45 minutes after school is a big deal. And, many parents need older kids to watch younger kids after school. How would that work when there are not enough after school spots as it is?

My kid goes to (private) HS 845-315, it works just fine. Other school systems and communities have figured this out.

Why are you here then. We don't care what private does, this is MCPS.

Fun fact, I have one of each. On the same sports team.

Transportation arguments are valid, but there are solutions.

My argument is that getting out of school after 3 is not a huge scheduling problem for the remainder of the day, and big public systems other places have figured it out (CA).

For all of those saying “how is there time”…
*public school kid has 3-330 extra time with which they typically sit on phone
Practice 4-630
Dinner 645-715
715-1015 - homework, leisure, hygiene
1030 bed (average) - this is late for one of mine and early for the other who is just wired as a night owl

Private school kid gets up to 10h sleep, while public could get 7-8h (not terrible if it’s 11-630, but this is a kid who has trouble sleeping before midnight and needs 8+h)

That's not how my kid's day looks. You forgot, when kids are in music and sports and also in school activities, not to mention private lessons too. Or, kids who are working.

And, what about parents who need their older kids to watch the younger ones.

Private school kids aren't getting more sleep.

If your kid has trouble sleeping, get a sleep study.

Sounds like these kids are doing too much and are over scheduled! Everyone needs to make choices.

My kid doesn't have trouble sleeping, they have a common teen body clock and would naturally sleep midnight - 10a if that was how the world worked. Obviously, it doesn't, so we do all the things to do our best.

But again, my argument is the only difference in my kids' after school schedule is 3-3:30, where one is finishing class/commuting and the other has discretionary time.

Your kid need to go to bed earlier. Simple. They will adjust to going to bed earlier. The rest of us should not be in on ringed by your kids refusing to go to bed. Are you even mcps? We made the choice to support our kids interests. Yes, it is a lot but they make it work and so do we.

I’m sorry for your kids that you don’t support their interests and gave up parenting.

Another poster denying reality.

Right?? Somehow I don’t support my children’s 20h per week athletic commitment. Ok.

My kids go to different schools on different schedules, I’d say this is evidence we support their different needs and parent them.

[Anonymous]

Write to your MD elected in Annapolis to change HS start time to 8am or later!

[Anonymous]

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/mcps-board-and-superintendent-please-wake-up-to#comments

[Anonymous]

Sign the petition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sign the petition.

I didn't realize petitions have magical powers. They're able to double the number of buses and bus drivers out of thin air? Amazing.

[Anonymous]

How thin minded you are PP. That's the ? The job of school Board to figure out if there are this many people supporting for changing school start times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How thin minded you are PP. That's the ? The job of school Board to figure out if there are this many people supporting for changing school start times.

What do you want to cut so that there is enough money for the additional bus drivers and buses? Or is that also the job of BoE/MCPS to figure out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How thin minded you are PP. That's the ? The job of school Board to figure out if there are this many people supporting for changing school start times.

What do you want to cut so that there is enough money for the additional bus drivers and buses? Or is that also the job of BoE/MCPS to figure out?

If they finish eliminating all academics and just make public schools into kid prisons there will be sufficient funds.

[Anonymous]

The best way to address this would be for students to have a “no period 1” elective option. Families would have to provide transportation, with the understanding that they can’t drop off until around ten minutes before the start of pd 2, and it would allow for sports after school to resume as scheduled. It would be a cost saver too- fewer pd 1 teachers needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The best way to address this would be for students to have a “no period 1” elective option. Families would have to provide transportation, with the understanding that they can’t drop off until around ten minutes before the start of pd 2, and it would allow for sports after school to resume as scheduled. It would be a cost saver too- fewer pd 1 teachers needed.

This is a terrible idea, unless your goal is to reduce attendance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best way to address this would be for students to have a “no period 1” elective option. Families would have to provide transportation, with the understanding that they can’t drop off until around ten minutes before the start of pd 2, and it would allow for sports after school to resume as scheduled. It would be a cost saver too- fewer pd 1 teachers needed.

This is a terrible idea, unless your goal is to reduce attendance.

For us, you only get bus service outside two miles. We have to drive so if we have to do it why shouldn’t you?

[Anonymous]

Virtual doesn’t start till 8:15 so you could switch to virtual but good luck getting a spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best way to address this would be for students to have a “no period 1” elective option. Families would have to provide transportation, with the understanding that they can’t drop off until around ten minutes before the start of pd 2, and it would allow for sports after school to resume as scheduled. It would be a cost saver too- fewer pd 1 teachers needed.

This is a terrible idea, unless your goal is to reduce attendance.

For us, you only get bus service outside two miles. We have to drive so if we have to do it why shouldn’t you?

Are you saying this sincerely? It's hard to tell. It's also hard to imagine that someone sincerely believes that if high school students who live less than 2 miles from the school don't get school bus service, then nobody should get school bus service.

And then there's the whole issue of, if you live less than 2 miles from the school and you don't get school bus service, that means MCPS thinks there's a safe route for your student to walk to school. So do you, in fact, HAVE to drive?

But if you want to, you can go ahead and tell your elected representatives that there's an easy way to have later school start times, namely get rid of school bus transportation and, instead, place the transportation burden on parents and cars. Make sure you sign your name, so they know who is suggesting this idea.

[Anonymous]

There's a whole lot going on here. As someone pointed out, a lot of kids actually have family responsibilities after school - having them come home at 4:30/5 doesn't work.

If your kids are tired, I'd take a long hard look at where their time is going. If they are in 2-3 hrs/day, 6 days a week sports practice maybe rethink that. They most likely aren't going to get a sports scholarship anyways, but they sure as hell will need to understand math and writing. Same goes for theater kids. American kids are way more sleep deprived than other teens not because of early start times because we give extreme importance to ECs which frankly isn't going to pan out for most of them.

And before people yell, yes I have a teen, in a sport, in a magnet, and she needs to sleep by 9:30/10. Her bus comes at 6:40. That means some of her free time on weekends is eaten up getting ahead on hw so she's not staying up late. The other option is to drop the sport since that seems to take up almost as much time as her hw.

[Anonymous]

When my kids are in ES, I want ES to start late.
When my kids are in MS, I want MS to start late.
When my kids are in HS, I want HS to start late.
Haha, isn't this called selfishness?