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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Somehow it looks like people are trying to use this issue to push school start times later.

So wanted to copy and paste the 2023-2024 attendance rates for high schools in the surrounding counties from mdreport card.  I also looked up the bell times for the first three high schools for each school district.  And I think it's safe to assume all of the high schools within a school system have the same bell times.  So Montgomery County high schools have a 7:45 start, Frederick 7:30, and Howard 7:50.

Some things to note is that Richard Montgomery, 91.4, and Churchill, 93.4, only has a two percent difference in attendance rate.

And Howard County did try to implement later start times a year or two ago.  But that and combined with outsourcing bus service, resulted in a diaster in bussing services and is likely one the reasons that resulted in the superintendent leaving.  Kids were getting picked up and dropped off up to an hour late.  And some of it was due to the smaller turnaround times for buses to go from school to school.  ie buses usually do their high school routes first, then middle schools, then elementary schools.

And also MCPS did do a study on possibly changing bell times a while back, when families would protest in front of Central Office.  It was determined it wasn't worth the cost or effort.  But the parent groups kept protesting, so MCPS changed the bell times slightly to appease them.

But as shown in the numbers below, Frederick County has earlier start times, and schools with higher attendance rates to MCPS.  So I don't think the answer is pushing back bell times.

Link to the file with attendance rates is here:
https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/Graphs/#/DataDownloads/datadownload/3/17/6/99/XXXX/2025

By county (sorted by attendance rate descending):
LEA Name	School Number	School Name	School Type	Attend Rate Pct	Bell time
Frederick	A	All Frederick Schools	High	93.1	7:30
Howard	A	All Howard Schools	High	92.5	7:50
Montgomery	A	All Montgomery Schools	High	89.7	7:45

By school (sorted by attendance rate descending):

LEA Number	LEA Name	School Number	School Name	School Type	Attend Rate Pct	Bell time
13	Howard	0308	Marriotts Ridge High	High	>= 95.0	7:50
10	Frederick	0713	Urbana High	High	94.9	7:30
10	Frederick	0912	Linganore High	High	94.5	7:30
10	Frederick	0920	Oakdale High	High	94.5	7:30
10	Frederick	0226	Monocacy Valley Montessori	High	94.4	
13	Howard	0214	Centennial High	High	94.3	7:50
13	Howard	0524	River Hill High	High	94.2	7:50
15	Montgomery	0427	Walt Whitman High	High	94.1	7:45
10	Frederick	0313	Middletown High	High	94	
13	Howard	0404	Glenelg High	High	94	7:50
15	Montgomery	0234	Thomas S. Wootton High	High	94	7:45
13	Howard	0203	Howard High	High	93.4	7:50
15	Montgomery	0152	Poolesville High	High	93.4	7:45
15	Montgomery	0602	Winston Churchill High	High	93.4	
13	Howard	0509	Atholton High	High	93.2	7:50
10	Frederick	2503	Brunswick High	High	93	
13	Howard	0207	Mount Hebron High	High	93	7:50
13	Howard	0527	Reservoir High	High	93	7:50
10	Frederick	1509	Catoctin High	High	92.7	
10	Frederick	2610	Walkersville High	High	92.6	
13	Howard	0619	Hammond High	High	92.3	7:50
10	Frederick	2307	Tuscarora High	High	92.2	
15	Montgomery	0406	Bethesda-Chevy Chase High	High	92	
10	Frederick	0213	Gov. Thomas Johnson High	High	91.9	
13	Howard	0626	Guilford Park High	High	91.6	7:50
15	Montgomery	0201	Richard Montgomery High	High	91.4	
10	Frederick	0209	Frederick High	High	91.2	
13	Howard	0623	Long Reach High	High	91.2	7:50
15	Montgomery	0249	Clarksburg High	High	91.1	
15	Montgomery	0246	Northwest High	High	91	
15	Montgomery	0503	Sherwood High	High	90.8	
15	Montgomery	0424	Walter Johnson High	High	90.7	
15	Montgomery	0701	Damascus High	High	90.5	
15	Montgomery	0230	Rockville High	High	90.4	
15	Montgomery	0315	Paint Branch High	High	90.3	
13	Howard	0611	Oakland Mills High	High	90	7:50
15	Montgomery	0104	Seneca Valley High	High	90	
15	Montgomery	0125	Quince Orchard High	High	89.8	
15	Montgomery	0916	Rock Terrace School	High	89.4	
15	Montgomery	0965	John L Gildner Regional Inst for Children & Adol	High	89.1	
13	Howard	0516	Wilde Lake High	High	89	7:50
15	Montgomery	0757	Montgomery Blair High	High	88.7	
15	Montgomery	0798	Springbrook High	High	88.7	
15	Montgomery	0782	Wheaton High	High	88.5	
15	Montgomery	0321	James Hubert Blake High	High	88.3	
15	Montgomery	0510	Col. Zadok Magruder High	High	88.2	
15	Montgomery	0789	Albert Einstein High	High	87.6	
13	Howard	0522	Cedar Lane Special Center	High	87.3	
15	Montgomery	0951	Longview School	High	86.5	
10	Frederick	2613	Rock Creek	High	86	
15	Montgomery	0796	Northwood High	High	86	
15	Montgomery	0815	John F. Kennedy High	High	85.9	
15	Montgomery	0545	Watkins Mill High	High	85.1	
15	Montgomery	0799	Stephen Knolls School	High	84.8	
15	Montgomery	0551	Gaithersburg High	High	83.8	
10	Frederick	0208	Heather Ridge	High	75.6	
13	Howard	0080	Homewood School	High	69.8	
[/quote]
I’m not familiar with Frederick County and their school system. Does Frederick County have the same kind of population density as Montgomery County? Do they have similar traffic congestion? Do they have the same overcrowding in their schools? Do they have as many routes per bus? Do they have as many students attending schools they aren’t zoned for by their home address? Do they have the same FARMs rate? Were they equally lax about tardiness post Covid?[/quote]

I tried finding the numbers for Fairfax county because think that they should be more similar to Montgomery county in terms of size, infrastructure(roads and traffic) and demographics.  It was a little bit more difficult because it looks like Virginia only reports chronic absenteeism.  So I put those numbers with the chronic absenteeism numbers from the mdreportcard data download.

The numbers should somewhat correlate to attendance rates but are not exactly the same, because the focus is on chronically absent students.

It looks like Fairfax County has a later start time than MCPS, with most high schools starting at 8:10, with some schools starting at 8:00.  And their chronic absenteeism numbers are a lot lower than MCPS's.  So there can be an argument that later bell times would indeed improve attendance and chronic absence rates.

But the question is would that extra ten or twenty minutes really make a difference?  Then you still have those schools with earlier bell times that have lower chronic absence rates, such as Urbana, Marriotts Ridge, Whitman, etc.

Apparently I don't know much about schools in Fairfax County.  But Bryant High and Mountain View appear to be alternative education schools.  So I think Justice High might be the traditional school, which according to Google also has an IB program, that has the highest chronic absenteeism rate in Fairfax County.  And while their rate is still better than a lot of other schools in the surrounding counties,  there are still other schools in other school systems with earlier bell times and lower chronic absenteeism rates.  So I'm  not entirely convinced that the better rates are due to just the later bell times.

Also in regards to others suggesting possibly adjusting after school activities.  As others mentioned, in the fall the day gets shorter where by mid October there is very little light on school fields by 6:15ish.  So let's say for something like rec soccer, this reduces amount of time that a league can assign fields to.  And a lot of rec teams are coached by parent volunteers.  So trying to move the activities to before school would ask parent volunteers, who already give a lot of their time and effort, to give that time during normal working hours as well.  So would potentially upend some longrunning and established organizations and activities in the area, which I understand not everyone is interested in.

And as mentioned, Howard County tried to implement later bell times but it didn't work and they had to change the times earlier during the school year to fix some of the issues.  Although some of their issues were also due to the new nonlocal vendor as well:
https://www.wbaltv.com/article/howard-county-public-schools-new-start-times/45126415

The data for Fairfax and Virginia Public Schools is available here:

https://schoolquality.virginia.gov

I'm not as familiar with the Virginia site and am having trouble trying to filter the data for just high schools.  But for all schools it looks like the rate is 12.8 percent.

Numbers are sorted by chronic absence rate in descending order.

So for the counties:

LEA Name	School Number	School Name	School Type	Chronic Absentee Pct
Montgomery	A	All Montgomery Schools	High	33.4
Howard	A	All Howard Schools	High	23.3
Frederick	A	All Frederick Schools	High	20.8
Fairfax	A	All Fairfax Schools (including ES and MS)	All Schools	12.8

By schools:

LEA Name	School Number	School Name	School Type	Chronic Absentee Pct
Howard	0080	Homewood School	High	82.6
Fairfax		Fairfax County Adult High		72.86
Fairfax		Bryant High		67.83
Frederick	0208	Heather Ridge	High	60.9
Fairfax		Mountain View High		60
Frederick	2613	Rock Creek	High	54.1
Montgomery	0551	Gaithersburg High	High	51.9
Montgomery	0545	Watkins Mill High	High	51.1
Montgomery	0951	Longview School	High	48.1
Montgomery	0815	John F. Kennedy High	High	46.2
Montgomery	0799	Stephen Knolls School	High	46.2
Montgomery	0796	Northwood High	High	44.7
Montgomery	0789	Albert Einstein High	High	42.3
Montgomery	0965	John L Gildner Regional Inst for Children & Adol	High	41.2
Howard	0522	Cedar Lane Special Center	High	40.7
Montgomery	0321	James Hubert Blake High	High	40.6
Montgomery	0510	Col. Zadok Magruder High	High	40.5
Howard	0516	Wilde Lake High	High	38.7
Montgomery	0798	Springbrook High	High	38.5
Montgomery	0424	Walter Johnson High	High	37.3
Montgomery	0782	Wheaton High	High	36.3
Montgomery	0757	Montgomery Blair High	High	35.6
Montgomery	0125	Quince Orchard High	High	35.4
Howard	0611	Oakland Mills High	High	34.7
Montgomery	0104	Seneca Valley High	High	34.3
Montgomery	0916	Rock Terrace School	High	33.3
Montgomery	0701	Damascus High	High	31.5
Montgomery	0230	Rockville High	High	30.8
Howard	0623	Long Reach High	High	30.3
Montgomery	0315	Paint Branch High	High	30.3
Montgomery	0249	Clarksburg High	High	29.5
Montgomery	0503	Sherwood High	High	29.4
Howard	0626	Guilford Park High	High	29.3
Montgomery	0201	Richard Montgomery High	High	29.3
Frederick	0213	Gov. Thomas Johnson High	High	28.1
Frederick	0209	Frederick High	High	27.9
Montgomery	0246	Northwest High	High	27.6
Howard	0619	Hammond High	High	26.8
Frederick	1509	Catoctin High	High	24.4
Frederick	2610	Walkersville High	High	24.1
Frederick	2307	Tuscarora High	High	24
Montgomery	0406	Bethesda-Chevy Chase High	High	23.6
Howard	0527	Reservoir High	High	23.1
Frederick	2503	Brunswick High	High	22.7
Howard	0207	Mount Hebron High	High	21.5
Fairfax		Justice High		21.36
Howard	0509	Atholton High	High	21
Fairfax		Lewis High		20.51
Montgomery	0152	Poolesville High	High	19.9
Fairfax		Chantilly High		19.83
Fairfax		West Potomac High		19.8
Fairfax		South Lakes High		19.22
Howard	0203	Howard High	High	18.8
Montgomery	0602	Winston Churchill High	High	18.6
Fairfax		Edison High		18.23
Fairfax		Mount Vernon High		17.96
Fairfax		Annandale High		17.5
Fairfax		Centreville High		17.4
Fairfax		Herndon High		17.38
Fairfax		Falls Church High		17.33
Montgomery	0234	Thomas S. Wootton High	High	16.7
Howard	0404	Glenelg High	High	16.6
Fairfax		Fairfax High		16.43
Frederick	0313	Middletown High	High	16.2
Howard	0214	Centennial High	High	16
Fairfax		Oakton High		15.91
Montgomery	0427	Walt Whitman High	High	15.7
Fairfax		Westfield High		15.35
Fairfax		South County High		15.08
Frederick	0226	Monocacy Valley Montessori	High	15
Howard	0524	River Hill High	High	14.9
Fairfax		Marshall High		14.77
Frederick	0920	Oakdale High	High	14.3
Frederick	0912	Linganore High	High	14.2
Fairfax		Madison High		13.46
Howard	0308	Marriotts Ridge High	High	13.2
Fairfax		Woodson High		12.73
Frederick	0713	Urbana High	High	12.6
Fairfax		McLean High		11.42
Fairfax		West Springfield High		11.14
Fairfax		Langley High		7.38

[/quote]

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