Who Drops Kids Off in the AM

[Anonymous]

I have a dumb question. My daughter starts at KIND. next year at Wayside. The class starts at 9:15. If both parents work, LIKE US, and we need to get into DC by 9, what do people do? does everyone like us use a nanny?

[Anonymous]

Is there a before-care program? Not familiar with Wayside, but I know Westbrook has one for kindergarteners (and perhaps older kids too). It starts at 7:30.

[Anonymous]

Our school has before-care and after-care. We also had an au pair our child's kindergarten year--scheduled mostly for after-school but some time in the morning. It made those morning drop-offs earlier and allowed our child to go home (with the au pair) when the normal school day ended.

[Anonymous]

We used before-care.

Some people use the bus as before-care - if you can put DC on the bus at 8:20 or 8:30, that will work. If you need to get him/her to school earlier, then you will need before-care.

It would be nice if MCPS could reverse the start-times for elementary and high school kids. The elementary kids could/should go earlier (get rid of need for before-care as the current schedule is a working parents' nightmare), and the high-schoolers, who don't need before-care, could get some needed sleep. Win-win.

[Anonymous]

Garrett Park has before care, which we considered. But, what decided to do next year is to share the responsibility of waiting for the bus with a couple other families in our neighborhood. Bus comes earlier than school start time, plus if we trade off between parents, it's only one day a week where we go into work late.

BTW, I wholeheartedly agree about reversing schedules between ES and HS - all the science backs up the fact that hs kids biologically cannot go to sleep earlier, and then they are forced to get up at insanely early times for school by the school system. Compound their sleep-deprivation with early class times and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why some flounder with their first or second period classes - especially if they are math or science classes. I hope that this message gets across to the admin before my kids get to hs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We used before-care.
It would be nice if MCPS could reverse the start-times for elementary and high school kids. The elementary kids could/should go earlier (get rid of need for before-care as the current schedule is a working parents' nightmare), and the high-schoolers, who don't need before-care, could get some needed sleep. Win-win.

I have long wondered why someone in charge hasn't thought to do this yet. It wouldn't have the high schoolsers in class that late in the afternoon that it would mess up jobs and sports like they claim it would. . .

[Anonymous]

They don't want elementary school aged walkers to have to walk to school in the dark.

[Anonymous]

We ue before and after care that does drop off and pick up at our school. They also keep my kids on school days off. And, if there is an unscheduled early dismissal, they pick up my kids so I don't have to worry about leaving work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They don't want elementary school aged walkers to have to walk to school in the dark.

That's just a ridiculous reason on so many levels. For one thing, the amount of time during the school year when the sun doesn't rise until after 7:15 is about 2 weeks - and one of those weeks is winter break. Second, the percentage of children that actually walk by themselves to school is also, I imagine, minimal in this day and age, and certainly is in our neighborhood. Third, if it were an earlier start time like this, parents actually COULD walk their kids to school or wait with them at the school bus stop without worrying about being late for work, making it much safer for all involved.

[Anonymous]

They almost made the swicth in Fairfax. Know who stopped it? The high school parents. Many of them insist that sleep is not as important as Junior having lots of time after school for activities. They said it would destroy sports, etc. I am not kidding, they really said this was more important than sleep health.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I am not kidding, they really said this was more important than sleep health.

And they wonder why their children are high-achievers, yet so stressed out and depressed that they start shooting up.

[Anonymous]

15:47 here - sorry about last post. That was probably over the top. I see that now it's in black and white.

[Anonymous]

I have a child at Wayside and have to commute into DC too so I feel your pain. Here are some tips to consider: first call the school and get the number for the Child Development Center (it's the name of the before and after care located at the school)> The CDC is a wonderful program headed by a Mrs. Sussman. Ask to speak to her and get on the waiting list for next year to keep your options open.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you can drop your child off at 9:00 when the school doors open. Or, you can drop your child at 8:50 with the crossing guard on the corner of Glen and Bedfordshire to buy yourself even more commuting time. Will your child be taking the bus? Look into bus schedules and see what time he or she will have to be at the bus stop. I hope this helps.