APS Bell schedule review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to be specific as to which ES are which times. My response to 730AM would be very different than 9. Plus, I can’t imagine a teacher living in Loudoun or Fairfax would want school to start at 730.

Not much different than middle school teachers having to be there at 7:40 start.

And also, no they shouldn't name schools. Too many parents feel entitled to make things ok for "others" but aren't willing to accept changes for their own schools. Its a constant issue with the boundary process. You should vote based on what makes sense for the overall system. Great your precious Larla can go to elementary at 9, but when she's in middle school you may have a vastly different opinion based on your situation then.

Well, all middle schools (except HB) would have the same start & end times as each other, so we get to know exactly what times apply to our MSs. Why not ES?
I am also really annoyed that all of the scenarios lengthen the school day.

You aren't comprehending that this survey is about how the whole system will work not just your elementary school.

[Anonymous]

The survey forced you to pick an option even if you don’t agree with any of the answers. There’s not “don’t agree” or “n/a” option. Who in the world green lighted this survey? Classic APS incompetence and I bet the paid $$ for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The survey is garbage as it doesn't have a "no benefit" option. I see no benefit to my HS student getting out of school later. Every single scenario extends the day past 3:01. As it is, I have to pick up in order to allow them to make it to afterschool commitments. Making their day longer just makes things worse.

Glad to hear the HS version is as rotten as the elementary version. Did anyone put more than 2 seconds of thought into this? It's ridiculously bad.

The high school survey asked whether we'd be interested in enrolling our child(ren) in morning or afternoon extended day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to be specific as to which ES are which times. My response to 730AM would be very different than 9. Plus, I can’t imagine a teacher living in Loudoun or Fairfax would want school to start at 730.

Not much different than middle school teachers having to be there at 7:40 start.

And also, no they shouldn't name schools. Too many parents feel entitled to make things ok for "others" but aren't willing to accept changes for their own schools. Its a constant issue with the boundary process. You should vote based on what makes sense for the overall system. Great your precious Larla can go to elementary at 9, but when she's in middle school you may have a vastly different opinion based on your situation then.

In what system does it makes sense for some elementary schools to start at 7:30 and some at 9:20?!?!? That's option 3. Maybe they just threw that in there, being so ridiculous, to make other options seem better.

[Anonymous]

This survey is so stupid. Page after page.

[Anonymous]

Our ES used to be an 8am start and moved to 9am this year. Kids got there at 740am for morning recess. From what I heard most teachers really miss the 8am start, so I don't think getting there was tough for them. Granted, I start work at 6am and pre covid we had people work in Loudon or WV that got there at 6am. They get off at 230pm, so it seemed worth it.

Anyway, all that to say. I generally really like early start. My kids were home by 3pm and had time to do HW or rest before sports. Now they pretty much come home and we are back out the door. They also had time to do after school enrichment, which we don't can't do because of sports conflicts.

However, if Congress really passes this bill to make DST standard the sun isn't going to rise until after the kids start school. That means ES age children are going to be walking to the bus in the dark, getting to school in the dark, and having morning recess in the dark. Since the playground is not lighted, I assume this will end morning recess.

I don't know I was really excited about the early start possibility and now I am not sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our ES used to be an 8am start and moved to 9am this year. Kids got there at 740am for morning recess. From what I heard most teachers really miss the 8am start, so I don't think getting there was tough for them. Granted, I start work at 6am and pre covid we had people work in Loudon or WV that got there at 6am. They get off at 230pm, so it seemed worth it.

Anyway, all that to say. I generally really like early start. My kids were home by 3pm and had time to do HW or rest before sports. Now they pretty much come home and we are back out the door. They also had time to do after school enrichment, which we don't can't do because of sports conflicts.

However, if Congress really passes this bill to make DST standard the sun isn't going to rise until after the kids start school. That means ES age children are going to be walking to the bus in the dark, getting to school in the dark, and having morning recess in the dark. Since the playground is not lighted, I assume this will end morning recess.

I don't know I was really excited about the early start possibility and now I am not sure.

I worked at an 8:25 school and moved to 9 and it makes a huge difference in a bad way. I’d love to start at 7:30. I think teaching draws a lot of morning people.

[Anonymous]

I don’t like that each option extends the total time for my HS student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like that each option extends the total time for my HS student.

By 13 mins. Gee, what an impact in the grand scheme of things. Just goes to show someone at EPS will always find something to complain about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our ES used to be an 8am start and moved to 9am this year. Kids got there at 740am for morning recess. From what I heard most teachers really miss the 8am start, so I don't think getting there was tough for them. Granted, I start work at 6am and pre covid we had people work in Loudon or WV that got there at 6am. They get off at 230pm, so it seemed worth it.

Anyway, all that to say. I generally really like early start. My kids were home by 3pm and had time to do HW or rest before sports. Now they pretty much come home and we are back out the door. They also had time to do after school enrichment, which we don't can't do because of sports conflicts.

However, if Congress really passes this bill to make DST standard the sun isn't going to rise until after the kids start school. That means ES age children are going to be walking to the bus in the dark, getting to school in the dark, and having morning recess in the dark. Since the playground is not lighted, I assume this will end morning recess.

I don't know I was really excited about the early start possibility and now I am not sure.

I worked at an 8:25 school and moved to 9 and it makes a huge difference in a bad way. I’d love to start at 7:30. I think teaching draws a lot of morning people.

Option 4 is the best one. It moves MS to 9, but the ES start times are closer together and neither start before 7:50. 7:30 is too early for any kids, especially the Title 1 schools. Kids who ride buses at Title 1 schools have to arrive 20 minutes early for breakfast, so they’d have to be at school by 7:10, meaning buses could potentially be picking them up as early as 6:50 for longer routes, like the option schools. 7:50 isn’t that different than 8, when some schools start now, so it’s not as large a change for anyone in ES and it’s not such a difference between ES start times in option 4 either, in case you have a scenario where you have two kids in two different ES, like say one kid with a SpEd placement and the other in a neighborhood school, with potentially two different start times. And it gives parity to MS kids and HB isn’t the only school with a developmentally appropriate start for that age group. Kids in MS have late start activities anyway. Fields are assigned to younger kids earlier and the older kids don’t get them until later anyway, so sport activities outside of school likely won’t be impacted. My MS student has hardly any homework most days, so that also isn’t an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to be specific as to which ES are which times. My response to 730AM would be very different than 9. Plus, I can’t imagine a teacher living in Loudoun or Fairfax would want school to start at 730.

Not much different than middle school teachers having to be there at 7:40 start.

And also, no they shouldn't name schools. Too many parents feel entitled to make things ok for "others" but aren't willing to accept changes for their own schools. Its a constant issue with the boundary process. You should vote based on what makes sense for the overall system. Great your precious Larla can go to elementary at 9, but when she's in middle school you may have a vastly different opinion based on your situation then.

Well, all middle schools (except HB) would have the same start & end times as each other, so we get to know exactly what times apply to our MSs. Why not ES?
I am also really annoyed that all of the scenarios lengthen the school day.

You aren't comprehending that this survey is about how the whole system will work not just your elementary school.

I do understand. I have one kid in MS & one in ES. I think all of their proposed options stink. I don’t want the school day to be longer, nor do I think any of the schools should end after 4 pm. 3:41pm is bad enough already. I also realize that APS could not care less what parents think, the survey is just a formality, & whatever changes they make will be based entirely on bussing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like that each option extends the total time for my HS student.

By 13 mins. Gee, what an impact in the grand scheme of things. Just goes to show someone at EPS will always find something to complain about.

Getting out later really messes things up for older kids who have jobs and activities after school. It does impact things for plenty of people, just not you. Just goes to show how someone will always find things to discredit other people's concerns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Elementary school earlier would eliminate the need for extended day in the morning.

But it could transfer this need to middle school. How many 6th graders can get themselves out of bed, breakfast, to a bus on time? These kids are young. If middle school starts later, they may need morning extended day as an option for working parents who have to be at work before 9am.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like that each option extends the total time for my HS student.

By 13 mins. Gee, what an impact in the grand scheme of things. Just goes to show someone at EPS will always find something to complain about.

Getting out later really messes things up for older kids who have jobs and activities after school. It does impact things for plenty of people, just not you. Just goes to show how someone will always find things to discredit other people's concerns.

13 minutes. Activities will be shifted due to an entire system of schools starting later. Every high school kid will be in the same situation. It's not as if they are shifting the day to an hour later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elementary school earlier would eliminate the need for extended day in the morning.

But it could transfer this need to middle school. How many 6th graders can get themselves out of bed, breakfast, to a bus on time? These kids are young. If middle school starts later, they may need morning extended day as an option for working parents who have to be at work before 9am.

There is no extended day, nor is there a need for middle school. They have a check in program after school. That would not make any kind of sense before school.