@19:13, doesn't your middle school have some sort of after school program? I thought all FCPS MS did. We have a late bus 3 days a week and programs until 5:30 with parent pick up the other 2 days.

Anonymous wrote:I applaud Karen Garza for doing what her predecessor could not. Great decision.

+1

I'm so tired of DCUMers always ignoring the fact that the middle schools inside the beltway start at 6th grade! My 11 year old 6th grader will not be ready to be home alone at 2-2:30!

My high school freshman wants to keep the early start mainly because he likes getting out earlier in the day.

7:30 is an improvement for our MS, so I'll take it. And living through our second year of hell of a 7:20 start, I absolutely would trade two years of 7:30 for four years at 8/8:15. Especially when, for most kids, those MS grades don't count.

The consensus was essentially that middle schoolers could suck it up for 2 years of early starts in order to benefit from having the later start time for 4 years of HS.
Any option that provided more equality across start times would just cost too much $$$$, so this is what we're stuck with.

SLEEP's hypocrisy has been fully revealed at this point. They always claimed they wanted better start times for all kids, but first they wanted elementary school kids to stand out in the dark. When common sense prevailed, they then decided to throw the middle schoolers into the meat grinder.

If early start times are so bad for high school kids, then how can they be for earlier start times for middle school kids? Is there any evidence that shows earlier start times are better for middle school kids? Of course not, but somebody must be sacrificed to appease SLEEP.

What a bunch of busybody hypocrites.

Political calculation. When they tried before they tried to move the elementary ages kids to the early time- too much parental push back. This time they have chosen the group of parents that are much smaller and not as well organized. 8th grade parents won't care, only 7th grade parents and 6th grade parents who are paying attention. Plus MS is a time when many parents check out of the PTA and helicopter mode- so far more are not paying attention- until their kids get home at 2:00 -2:30pm and are home for 4+ hours alone. Maybe we can get them to bring back Middle School sports.

Middle schoolers at secondary schools have been going early for years. It is certainly not ideal, but at least now it is only for the two years of middle school and those kids will have a better schedule for high school.

Anonymous wrote:I object, but they don't care. They will do what they want.

Middle schoolers should not be sacrificed.

I can't understand why elementary school isn't the one to start earlier. Those kids are up early naturally.

Middle schoolers should be sacrificed. They are loud, hormonal and gross, and no one pays much attention to their transcripts.

Why can't they actually make the full changes that would truly address the issue? This half-a$$ compromise doesn't do enough for the high schoolers, makes middle school worse, and leaves so many elementary schoolers sitting around waiting somewhere instead of in the classroom, learning, during their most alert hour of the morning!

I object, but they don't care. They will do what they want.

Middle schoolers should not be sacrificed.

I can't understand why elementary school isn't the one to start earlier. Those kids are up early naturally.

I think it's a terrible decision, and is going to affect my soon to be middle-schoolers adversely. They have a long bus ride to middle school. It's already a difficult time, they still need the sleep. They wouldn't have after school jobs or as much hw or sports as HS students. So why are they starting earlier? Just so HSers can start at 8. No giant improvement there, just a huge waste of time and money.

In her defense, Dr. Garza said she would try to work on later MS times, but I have little hope. She's not afraid to make big changes, they just aren't well thought through.

I applaud Karen Garza for doing what her predecessor could not. Great decision.

Middle schoolers are ages 12 - 14 - they may be growing as much if not more than high schoolers!

Today's announcement:

http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=2606