I'm the OP. I posted first in the MD schools forum and later posted it here because for many parents of kids with SN sleep is a giant issue and sending an underslept child with SN to get through a full day of school poses huge problems. If this doesn't affect you, consider yourself lucky. No one is forcing you to read through this thread.

I'd just like to say that I'm a little peeved that the OP posted basically exactly the same post in the Special Needs forum that she did in the Maryland Public Schools forum, but just put in a little bit educating us special needs parents about the special needs of special needs kids.

And it seems like most of the posts in response don't really have to do with SN kids.

Can we please keep the SN board for SN issues and families?

FWIW, I was an early supporter of the later start times for HS, but was really against the MCPS proposal to move the ES start time back to some insanely early hour to accommodate the bus schedule. I have multiple ADHD kids -- one wakes up at 6:30, one has to be rolled out of bed at 8. But even for the late sleeper, the later end time for E.S. has been a disaster for him -- I can't even begin to tell you how badly decompensated by the time he gets on his bus. There aren't really easy or clear cut answers for the SN community on this...not sure if there are any easy answers for anyone.

It seems like there is no consensus on this issue. There are as many opinions as there are family routines. This discussion over in the MOCO schools board had just as much opinion for as against.

Thank you OP. I will definitely email the board. It would be a horrible decision to roll back the start times for high school. My kid, who goes to bed fairly early (10-10:30) can barely get himself out the door before 7am. All of this silly stuff about how "hey why don't they go to bed earlier or take a nap in the afternoon" is garbage. That's not how their internal clocks work. MCPS needs to figure out another way to accommodate the ES kids without sacrificing the teens.

We are the opposite. Early starts work best for my children. One ASD and one LD/ADHD. My younger one is still complaining about the change to the ater start tie in FCPS. Now at 17 he is up by 7am on the weekends.

When they were in ES and school did not start until 8:30, we were up for 2-3 hours and they were ready for a break by the time school was just starting.

A 9:30 start would be absolutely horrible by the end of the day.

I posted about this in the MC schools forum but the new start times allow my kid to go to therapy before school starts when he's fresh and ready to learn. We do two 8am appts each week. He is spent after school and therapy at that time would be a waste of money. It would be disastrous for us if the times switch again.

I am thrilled with the later start time. My Westland middle school student still has to wake up before 7am in order to make her bus. That definitely reduces a teen's overall sleep quality.

Please, please do not revert back to the old start times. I will contact the BOE. Thank you for letting us know about the discussion, OP.