Ugh....time to wake my 8th grader up

[Anonymous]

By October 30, sunrise will be at 7:33 AM. My kid has to leave for the bus stop at 6:45 to be there by 6:55. So these 12 year olds are going to be walking and waiting in the dark? Does this seem like a bad idea to anyone else?

Then we get daylight savings time but that will only help for about 60 days.... Then we'll be back to the same thing.

[Anonymous]

In a perfect world no kid would walk to the bus stop in dark -- even kids in high school. It's not ideal for anyone, but it is what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In a perfect world no kid would walk to the bus stop in dark -- even kids in high school. It's not ideal for anyone, but it is what it is.

So, I guess in northern climate they would cancel school for the dark quarter?

[Anonymous]

OP here...the issue is not the darkness, but rather the faulty logic of the SLEEP study. I am positive the later start time is good for the high school kids...but it was at the expense of the middle school kids, who need the sleep as much if not more. My DD is often unable to get to sleep before 11:00.

[Anonymous]

In Loudoun, bell times are ~7:50, 8:30 and 8:50 for Elementary, MS and HS, respectively. I like this system and hope they don't change it.

I drive to work down Georgetown Pike, at around 6:10 and was amazed to see HSers waiting for the bus at that hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here...the issue is not the darkness, but rather the faulty logic of the SLEEP study. I am positive the later start time is good for the high school kids...but it was at the expense of the middle school kids, who need the sleep as much if not more. My DD is often unable to get to sleep before 11:00.

I sympathize because I've been watching my high schoolers go to school in the dark for years and then try to stay awake for class when they truly could not go to sleep before 11 the night before. With rare exceptions these same kids were in bed by 9:30 or 10 when they were in middle school.

It would have been ideal if both MS and HS could have gone to or kept later start times, but given that FCPS had to choose at least this year, I think they made the right decision. Everything matters more in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By October 30, sunrise will be at 7:33 AM. My kid has to leave for the bus stop at 6:45 to be there by 6:55. So these 12 year olds are going to be walking and waiting in the dark? Does this seem like a bad idea to anyone else?

Then we get daylight savings time but that will only help for about 60 days.... Then we'll be back to the same thing.

The middle school kids at secondary schools plus the Frost kids have been doing this for years. All my kids took a bus that arrived at the stop at 6:35 or 6:40, depending on the year. This was for seventh through twelfth graders. I totally get watching the kids head out in the complete dark for a number of weeks each year. I had the sunrise times memorized for those weeks.

It has shifted to a different set if middle schoolers now, but fewer kids overall are dealing with this schedule than before, so that is progress.

[Anonymous]

It has shifted to a different set if middle schoolers now, but fewer kids overall are dealing with this schedule than before, so that is progress.

And, there are lots of high schoolers still dealing with the 6:30 bus--but spending twice as long on the bus. System: FAIL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It has shifted to a different set if middle schoolers now, but fewer kids overall are dealing with this schedule than before, so that is progress.

And, there are lots of high schoolers still dealing with the 6:30 bus--but spending twice as long on the bus. System: FAIL

What schools are these? The high school kids near us are leaving at about 7:30.

[Anonymous]

In all the hoopla around the later HS start times and justification of the Millions $$$ spent, their was no mention of the MS students getting screwed. Bait and Switch. Karen Garza was so eager to get this through that there was no transparency about the downside, which should have been discussed. Certainly, no one raised this at our MS last year. When you add this to the high stakes budget BS, she's building a lot of distrust.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In a perfect world no kid would walk to the bus stop in dark -- even kids in high school. It's not ideal for anyone, but it is what it is.

IMHO given the constraints on our buses, it would be the older kids walking in the dark. Not 12 year olds.

[Anonymous]

And PS, I see the high schoolers walking home now much later in the day... what about high schoolers who want to work after school? So now they just stay at their jobs til midnight???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And PS, I see the high schoolers walking home now much later in the day... what about high schoolers who want to work after school? So now they just stay at their jobs til midnight???

Our local high school times have only shifted by 35 minutes, so it is not that drastic a difference. If a kid now needs to work till midnight, before the schedule change he was working until 11:25. Working until almost 11:30 is pretty late for a school night anyway.

I don't personally know any teens working these hours on school nights actually. I'd be surprised if last year there were a lot of kids who were regularly working until almost 11:30 on school nights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And PS, I see the high schoolers walking home now much later in the day... what about high schoolers who want to work after school? So now they just stay at their jobs til midnight???

Work after school?

Ha ha. Good one.

[Anonymous]

Suggestions on how to get my MS to eat something before leaving at 6:20? (Serious, need ideas)