Petition: Later MCPS school start times

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am so sick and tired of letting kids sleep in late, so they can be up doing TIKTOK all night

"Doing TIKTOK all night" 😂 Could you have found a more boomer way to say that?


I went to MCPS back when high schools started at 7:20, and it was hell. Tiktok didn't exist; instagram was invented my junior or senior year and hadn't caught on by the time I graduated. Shocker, teens were still wired to stay up late/sleep late.

That said, I don't have a ton of sympathy since again, I started at 7:20 (and went to RMIB so I was on the bus by like 6:30). It's already so much later than what we had!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so sick and tired of letting kids sleep in late, so they can be up doing TIKTOK all night

"Doing TIKTOK all night" 😂 Could you have found a more boomer way to say that?


I went to MCPS back when high schools started at 7:20, and it was hell. Tiktok didn't exist; instagram was invented my junior or senior year and hadn't caught on by the time I graduated. Shocker, teens were still wired to stay up late/sleep late.

That said, I don't have a ton of sympathy since again, I started at 7:20 (and went to RMIB so I was on the bus by like 6:30). It's already so much later than what we had!

ya it's tough getting up early but when parents do their job, it's a lot easier

[Anonymous]

PG County Public Schools just voted to shift to the later start times this group is advocating for. So we'll get a front row seat to see how that works. If it's successful, then I suspect MCPS will follow suit. But if it's a debacle, then it'll set this movement back for some time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PG County Public Schools just voted to shift to the later start times this group is advocating for. So we'll get a front row seat to see how that works. If it's successful, then I suspect MCPS will follow suit. But if it's a debacle, then it'll set this movement back for some time.

So glad MCPS resolved this matter years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PG County Public Schools just voted to shift to the later start times this group is advocating for. So we'll get a front row seat to see how that works. If it's successful, then I suspect MCPS will follow suit. But if it's a debacle, then it'll set this movement back for some time.

Things can't get any worse in PG so might as well try something different but my guess is that students that were late in the old system, will still be late. Those that don't show, will still not show. Those that are tired, will still be tired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PG County Public Schools just voted to shift to the later start times this group is advocating for. So we'll get a front row seat to see how that works. If it's successful, then I suspect MCPS will follow suit. But if it's a debacle, then it'll set this movement back for some time.

Things can't get any worse in PG so might as well try something different but my guess is that students that were late in the old system, will still be late. Those that don't show, will still not show. Those that are tired, will still be tired.

Oh, I agree with you. But I only brought it up because that is going to be the best data we as a system can use if we want to continue the discussion on shifting start times, since PGCPS is very similar to our school system in numerous ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PG County Public Schools just voted to shift to the later start times this group is advocating for. So we'll get a front row seat to see how that works. If it's successful, then I suspect MCPS will follow suit. But if it's a debacle, then it'll set this movement back for some time.

Things can't get any worse in PG so might as well try something different but my guess is that students that were late in the old system, will still be late. Those that don't show, will still not show. Those that are tired, will still be tired.

Oh, I agree with you. But I only brought it up because that is going to be the best data we as a system can use if we want to continue the discussion on shifting start times, since PGCPS is very similar to our school system in numerous ways.

There's little point in continuing this discussion since it was already considered by MCPS and the matter was settled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m impressed that this thread is still active. I’m a HS teacher and on the side of a later start. I wish I could invite y’all to my first period class. My heart goes out to my tired and sleep deprived students.

I'm guessing the tired sleepy K-5 students would feel similarly.

Poster you are responding to.
You have a lack of knowledge of physiology for young children and teens. Teens need as much or even more sleep than young children. This is a fact society seems ignorant of. Also, teenagers sleep cycles are shifted due to hormones so they naturally stay up later and sleep longer in the morning. If you don’t understand teenage development, best not to comment perhaps

How much sleep do you think teens need? Because its basically 8-10 hours exception growth spurts. Kids 6-12 need 9-12.

You do the math with ES kids having to catch a bus at 630 and work backward. A 630 bedtime for a 1st grader, thats not happening. Just like a 8pm bedtime for a teenager isnt happening.

Ill also add that in the AAP sleep endorsement the doc was quoted in bold below:
A panel of 13 sleep experts reviewed 864 scientific articles to formulate the recommendations. It noted that sleep also must be appropriately timed and without disturbances.

While parents may determine their children’s bedtime, their wakeup call may be determined by their school start time, said Lee J. Brooks, M.D., FAAP, a member of the AASM panel and the AAP Section on Pediatric Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine Executive Committee. In 2014, the AAP released a policy calling for middle and high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

If schools start earlier, parents should make sure their children go to bed early enough to get the recommended amount of sleep, which may mean leaving some activities off the schedule, according to Dr. Brooks, attending pulmonologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“They cannot play three sports, play in the band and join the chess club and still get enough sleep to do well in school,” he said.

Any child starting school at 730 is likely not getting enough sleep.

Everyone needs a different amount of sleep and yes, they can do a club, sports and band. Mine do. The difference is we parent. We send our kids to bed at a reasonable hour.

Well, you can send them to their bedrooms but you can't make them sleep. Evolution is a b**ch.

Sounds like a parenting issue. Maybe try activities and they will be tired at the end of the day. It’s hi evolution, it’s parenting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m impressed that this thread is still active. I’m a HS teacher and on the side of a later start. I wish I could invite y’all to my first period class. My heart goes out to my tired and sleep deprived students.

I'm guessing the tired sleepy K-5 students would feel similarly.

Poster you are responding to.
You have a lack of knowledge of physiology for young children and teens. Teens need as much or even more sleep than young children. This is a fact society seems ignorant of. Also, teenagers sleep cycles are shifted due to hormones so they naturally stay up later and sleep longer in the morning. If you don’t understand teenage development, best not to comment perhaps

How much sleep do you think teens need? Because its basically 8-10 hours exception growth spurts. Kids 6-12 need 9-12.

You do the math with ES kids having to catch a bus at 630 and work backward. A 630 bedtime for a 1st grader, thats not happening. Just like a 8pm bedtime for a teenager isnt happening.

Ill also add that in the AAP sleep endorsement the doc was quoted in bold below:
A panel of 13 sleep experts reviewed 864 scientific articles to formulate the recommendations. It noted that sleep also must be appropriately timed and without disturbances.

While parents may determine their children’s bedtime, their wakeup call may be determined by their school start time, said Lee J. Brooks, M.D., FAAP, a member of the AASM panel and the AAP Section on Pediatric Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine Executive Committee. In 2014, the AAP released a policy calling for middle and high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

If schools start earlier, parents should make sure their children go to bed early enough to get the recommended amount of sleep, which may mean leaving some activities off the schedule, according to Dr. Brooks, attending pulmonologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“They cannot play three sports, play in the band and join the chess club and still get enough sleep to do well in school,” he said.

Any child starting school at 730 is likely not getting enough sleep.

Everyone needs a different amount of sleep and yes, they can do a club, sports and band. Mine do. The difference is we parent. We send our kids to bed at a reasonable hour.

Well, you can send them to their bedrooms but you can't make them sleep. Evolution is a b**ch.

Sounds like a parenting issue. Maybe try activities and they will be tired at the end of the day. It’s hi evolution, it’s parenting.

We found that cutting off their internet access at bedtime helped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m impressed that this thread is still active. I’m a HS teacher and on the side of a later start. I wish I could invite y’all to my first period class. My heart goes out to my tired and sleep deprived students.

I'm guessing the tired sleepy K-5 students would feel similarly.

Poster you are responding to.
You have a lack of knowledge of physiology for young children and teens. Teens need as much or even more sleep than young children. This is a fact society seems ignorant of. Also, teenagers sleep cycles are shifted due to hormones so they naturally stay up later and sleep longer in the morning. If you don’t understand teenage development, best not to comment perhaps

How much sleep do you think teens need? Because its basically 8-10 hours exception growth spurts. Kids 6-12 need 9-12.

You do the math with ES kids having to catch a bus at 630 and work backward. A 630 bedtime for a 1st grader, thats not happening. Just like a 8pm bedtime for a teenager isnt happening.

Ill also add that in the AAP sleep endorsement the doc was quoted in bold below:
A panel of 13 sleep experts reviewed 864 scientific articles to formulate the recommendations. It noted that sleep also must be appropriately timed and without disturbances.

While parents may determine their children’s bedtime, their wakeup call may be determined by their school start time, said Lee J. Brooks, M.D., FAAP, a member of the AASM panel and the AAP Section on Pediatric Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine Executive Committee. In 2014, the AAP released a policy calling for middle and high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

If schools start earlier, parents should make sure their children go to bed early enough to get the recommended amount of sleep, which may mean leaving some activities off the schedule, according to Dr. Brooks, attending pulmonologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“They cannot play three sports, play in the band and join the chess club and still get enough sleep to do well in school,” he said.

Any child starting school at 730 is likely not getting enough sleep.

Everyone needs a different amount of sleep and yes, they can do a club, sports and band. Mine do. The difference is we parent. We send our kids to bed at a reasonable hour.

Well, you can send them to their bedrooms but you can't make them sleep. Evolution is a b**ch.

Sounds like a parenting issue. Maybe try activities and they will be tired at the end of the day. It’s hi evolution, it’s parenting.

You can’t parent a child to sleep. I had zero devices when I was in high school. There was no internet, no one I knew had a cell phone, I didn’t have my own tv or computer. I wasn’t interacting with friends after 9 pm. My sleep needs were very different in my teens than in my twenties. My brother, a 3 season athlete, was the same. My now dh was the same. My kids are the same.

I know your pea brain can’t comprehend anything other than “be a parent; take devices away,” but the majority of high school students would benefit from a later start, regardless of what your family does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m impressed that this thread is still active. I’m a HS teacher and on the side of a later start. I wish I could invite y’all to my first period class. My heart goes out to my tired and sleep deprived students.

I'm guessing the tired sleepy K-5 students would feel similarly.

Poster you are responding to.
You have a lack of knowledge of physiology for young children and teens. Teens need as much or even more sleep than young children. This is a fact society seems ignorant of. Also, teenagers sleep cycles are shifted due to hormones so they naturally stay up later and sleep longer in the morning. If you don’t understand teenage development, best not to comment perhaps

How much sleep do you think teens need? Because its basically 8-10 hours exception growth spurts. Kids 6-12 need 9-12.

You do the math with ES kids having to catch a bus at 630 and work backward. A 630 bedtime for a 1st grader, thats not happening. Just like a 8pm bedtime for a teenager isnt happening.

Ill also add that in the AAP sleep endorsement the doc was quoted in bold below:
A panel of 13 sleep experts reviewed 864 scientific articles to formulate the recommendations. It noted that sleep also must be appropriately timed and without disturbances.

While parents may determine their children’s bedtime, their wakeup call may be determined by their school start time, said Lee J. Brooks, M.D., FAAP, a member of the AASM panel and the AAP Section on Pediatric Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine Executive Committee. In 2014, the AAP released a policy calling for middle and high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

If schools start earlier, parents should make sure their children go to bed early enough to get the recommended amount of sleep, which may mean leaving some activities off the schedule, according to Dr. Brooks, attending pulmonologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“They cannot play three sports, play in the band and join the chess club and still get enough sleep to do well in school,” he said.

Any child starting school at 730 is likely not getting enough sleep.

Everyone needs a different amount of sleep and yes, they can do a club, sports and band. Mine do. The difference is we parent. We send our kids to bed at a reasonable hour.

Well, you can send them to their bedrooms but you can't make them sleep. Evolution is a b**ch.

Sounds like a parenting issue. Maybe try activities and they will be tired at the end of the day. It’s hi evolution, it’s parenting.

You can’t parent a child to sleep. I had zero devices when I was in high school. There was no internet, no one I knew had a cell phone, I didn’t have my own tv or computer. I wasn’t interacting with friends after 9 pm. My sleep needs were very different in my teens than in my twenties. My brother, a 3 season athlete, was the same. My now dh was the same. My kids are the same.

I know your pea brain can’t comprehend anything other than “be a parent; take devices away,” but the majority of high school students would benefit from a later start, regardless of what your family does.

DP. My current high school children are asleep by 10. It isn’t hard.

We don’t use devices after 8ish and we sleep in dark rooms. It really isn’t hard at all.

If my pea brain can figure it out, I’m sure your brilliant one can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PG County Public Schools just voted to shift to the later start times this group is advocating for. So we'll get a front row seat to see how that works. If it's successful, then I suspect MCPS will follow suit. But if it's a debacle, then it'll set this movement back for some time.

So glad MCPS resolved this matter years ago.

"resolved" like abortion rights were resolved years ago?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m impressed that this thread is still active. I’m a HS teacher and on the side of a later start. I wish I could invite y’all to my first period class. My heart goes out to my tired and sleep deprived students.

I'm guessing the tired sleepy K-5 students would feel similarly.

Poster you are responding to.
You have a lack of knowledge of physiology for young children and teens. Teens need as much or even more sleep than young children. This is a fact society seems ignorant of. Also, teenagers sleep cycles are shifted due to hormones so they naturally stay up later and sleep longer in the morning. If you don’t understand teenage development, best not to comment perhaps

How much sleep do you think teens need? Because its basically 8-10 hours exception growth spurts. Kids 6-12 need 9-12.

You do the math with ES kids having to catch a bus at 630 and work backward. A 630 bedtime for a 1st grader, thats not happening. Just like a 8pm bedtime for a teenager isnt happening.

Ill also add that in the AAP sleep endorsement the doc was quoted in bold below:
A panel of 13 sleep experts reviewed 864 scientific articles to formulate the recommendations. It noted that sleep also must be appropriately timed and without disturbances.

While parents may determine their children’s bedtime, their wakeup call may be determined by their school start time, said Lee J. Brooks, M.D., FAAP, a member of the AASM panel and the AAP Section on Pediatric Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine Executive Committee. In 2014, the AAP released a policy calling for middle and high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

If schools start earlier, parents should make sure their children go to bed early enough to get the recommended amount of sleep, which may mean leaving some activities off the schedule, according to Dr. Brooks, attending pulmonologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“They cannot play three sports, play in the band and join the chess club and still get enough sleep to do well in school,” he said.

Any child starting school at 730 is likely not getting enough sleep.

Everyone needs a different amount of sleep and yes, they can do a club, sports and band. Mine do. The difference is we parent. We send our kids to bed at a reasonable hour.

Well, you can send them to their bedrooms but you can't make them sleep. Evolution is a b**ch.

Sounds like a parenting issue. Maybe try activities and they will be tired at the end of the day. It’s hi evolution, it’s parenting.

You can’t parent a child to sleep. I had zero devices when I was in high school. There was no internet, no one I knew had a cell phone, I didn’t have my own tv or computer. I wasn’t interacting with friends after 9 pm. My sleep needs were very different in my teens than in my twenties. My brother, a 3 season athlete, was the same. My now dh was the same. My kids are the same.

I know your pea brain can’t comprehend anything other than “be a parent; take devices away,” but the majority of high school students would benefit from a later start, regardless of what your family does.

DP. My current high school children are asleep by 10. It isn’t hard.

We don’t use devices after 8ish and we sleep in dark rooms. It really isn’t hard at all.

If my pea brain can figure it out, I’m sure your brilliant one can.

Sorry your kids are developmentally behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m impressed that this thread is still active. I’m a HS teacher and on the side of a later start. I wish I could invite y’all to my first period class. My heart goes out to my tired and sleep deprived students.

I'm guessing the tired sleepy K-5 students would feel similarly.

Poster you are responding to.
You have a lack of knowledge of physiology for young children and teens. Teens need as much or even more sleep than young children. This is a fact society seems ignorant of. Also, teenagers sleep cycles are shifted due to hormones so they naturally stay up later and sleep longer in the morning. If you don’t understand teenage development, best not to comment perhaps

How much sleep do you think teens need? Because its basically 8-10 hours exception growth spurts. Kids 6-12 need 9-12.

You do the math with ES kids having to catch a bus at 630 and work backward. A 630 bedtime for a 1st grader, thats not happening. Just like a 8pm bedtime for a teenager isnt happening.

Ill also add that in the AAP sleep endorsement the doc was quoted in bold below:
A panel of 13 sleep experts reviewed 864 scientific articles to formulate the recommendations. It noted that sleep also must be appropriately timed and without disturbances.

While parents may determine their children’s bedtime, their wakeup call may be determined by their school start time, said Lee J. Brooks, M.D., FAAP, a member of the AASM panel and the AAP Section on Pediatric Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine Executive Committee. In 2014, the AAP released a policy calling for middle and high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

If schools start earlier, parents should make sure their children go to bed early enough to get the recommended amount of sleep, which may mean leaving some activities off the schedule, according to Dr. Brooks, attending pulmonologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“They cannot play three sports, play in the band and join the chess club and still get enough sleep to do well in school,” he said.

Any child starting school at 730 is likely not getting enough sleep.

Everyone needs a different amount of sleep and yes, they can do a club, sports and band. Mine do. The difference is we parent. We send our kids to bed at a reasonable hour.

Well, you can send them to their bedrooms but you can't make them sleep. Evolution is a b**ch.

Sounds like a parenting issue. Maybe try activities and they will be tired at the end of the day. It’s hi evolution, it’s parenting.

You can’t parent a child to sleep. I had zero devices when I was in high school. There was no internet, no one I knew had a cell phone, I didn’t have my own tv or computer. I wasn’t interacting with friends after 9 pm. My sleep needs were very different in my teens than in my twenties. My brother, a 3 season athlete, was the same. My now dh was the same. My kids are the same.

I know your pea brain can’t comprehend anything other than “be a parent; take devices away,” but the majority of high school students would benefit from a later start, regardless of what your family does.

DP. My current high school children are asleep by 10. It isn’t hard.

We don’t use devices after 8ish and we sleep in dark rooms. It really isn’t hard at all.

If my pea brain can figure it out, I’m sure your brilliant one can.

Sorry your kids are developmentally behind.

This is just silly.

I parent well. Devices are put away at a reasonable hour and we all go to bed at a reasonable hour.

Perhaps we are simply more evolved humans. Either that or it’s just not that hard to enforce good bedtimes. You pick which one you think it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m impressed that this thread is still active. I’m a HS teacher and on the side of a later start. I wish I could invite y’all to my first period class. My heart goes out to my tired and sleep deprived students.

I'm guessing the tired sleepy K-5 students would feel similarly.

Poster you are responding to.
You have a lack of knowledge of physiology for young children and teens. Teens need as much or even more sleep than young children. This is a fact society seems ignorant of. Also, teenagers sleep cycles are shifted due to hormones so they naturally stay up later and sleep longer in the morning. If you don’t understand teenage development, best not to comment perhaps

How much sleep do you think teens need? Because its basically 8-10 hours exception growth spurts. Kids 6-12 need 9-12.

You do the math with ES kids having to catch a bus at 630 and work backward. A 630 bedtime for a 1st grader, thats not happening. Just like a 8pm bedtime for a teenager isnt happening.

Ill also add that in the AAP sleep endorsement the doc was quoted in bold below:
A panel of 13 sleep experts reviewed 864 scientific articles to formulate the recommendations. It noted that sleep also must be appropriately timed and without disturbances.

While parents may determine their children’s bedtime, their wakeup call may be determined by their school start time, said Lee J. Brooks, M.D., FAAP, a member of the AASM panel and the AAP Section on Pediatric Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine Executive Committee. In 2014, the AAP released a policy calling for middle and high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

If schools start earlier, parents should make sure their children go to bed early enough to get the recommended amount of sleep, which may mean leaving some activities off the schedule, according to Dr. Brooks, attending pulmonologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“They cannot play three sports, play in the band and join the chess club and still get enough sleep to do well in school,” he said.

Any child starting school at 730 is likely not getting enough sleep.

Everyone needs a different amount of sleep and yes, they can do a club, sports and band. Mine do. The difference is we parent. We send our kids to bed at a reasonable hour.

Well, you can send them to their bedrooms but you can't make them sleep. Evolution is a b**ch.

Sounds like a parenting issue. Maybe try activities and they will be tired at the end of the day. It’s hi evolution, it’s parenting.

We found that cutting off their internet access at bedtime helped.

Some expect the county to parent for them.