Start time for school

Our hs starts at 810

Ours just changed this year. It has benefits and drawbacks, and I'm still getting used to it...

Old high school start time: 7:25, new start time 8:35. Old end time: 2:05, new end time 3:10.

Middle school pretty much stayed the same starting at 9:30 and ending at 3:50.

Elementary starts at 8:10, and ends at 2:30, it used to start at 8:30 and end at 2:50.

I have a high schooler, a high schooler at a magnet school (which is on the middle school schedule) and an elementary school kid...

ETA: the main reason they changed everything was bus issues... now that the elementary kids get home first, there are bus drivers for the high schoolers after school activities like sports.  

I am always open mouthed when any of you give your school times (not directed at you littlemama just easier to see for comparison purposes.)  

There would be riots if we expected our high schoolers to start at 7.15 am.   Here it's
Monday - Thursday 8.40 am - 3.40 pm
Friday - 8.40 am - 12.30 pm

For the younger children they all start at 9 am with a 2.30 pm finish for the youngest and 3 pm for the middles.  

My elementary child starts at 7:45 and my high schooler starts at 9. Last year when she was in middle I think they started at 8:30.

In England the average school day for high schoolers is 8.35 - 3.05

Primary schools are generally 8.45 - 3.15

Our district is considering making the switch next year, flipping the high school start time (currently 7:45) with the elementary start time (currently 8:45). In our house, that would make a HUGE difference for the better. Middle school would start at 8:35 vs our current 7:50 start time.

My 8th grader is and always has been a night owl. She is just not tired when I’m trying to coerce her to go to bed at 9:45, 10, 10:30. We currently have to get up at 6:00 am because it takes a village to get this kid up, dressed, fed, out the door and down to the bus stop by 6:55. It’s ugly as hell.

I get up and take our dogs out, then I make sure she has everything she needs for the day and I take her to the bus stop. Honestly, I do it for me because if it was left up to her she would forget half of her stuff every day. She just doesn’t think straight that early and then it would end up falling back on me to bring her whatever she forgot. It’s pitch black at that hour and there’s nowhere other than the street for her to stand and wait, and when the weather is particularly snowy or crappy the bus is sometimes really late or doesn’t come at all. Plus she has a ton of crap she has to drag back and forth every day (backpack, binder, gym bag, trumpet, it’s a LOT). And it’s cold now, and I’m sympathetic remembering how bad it sucked to have to walk to my own 8th grade bus stop on the pitch dark winter mornings along busy streets. DH gets up and makes her a hot breakfast every day because her “lunch” is literally at 10:00 am  and she doesn’t get home until 3:00.

People arguing against having the younger kids start early need to consider that many of these kids are having to get up at the crack of dawn anyway to go to daycare before school as it is, so what’s the difference? The public elementary schools here in our district all have before and after school care available now right in the same elementary buildings from 6:00 am until school starts and then from 3:15 until 6:00 pm. The kids going to before and after school care will still be in the school building for the same number of hours they are now, it’s just that the hours they’re actually in “school” will shift. It might even make it easier for a lot of people to not have to deal with obtaining before (or after) school care for their younger kids depending on their work schedule.

As for the after school activities, in all but our district and one other, the schools in our general area have already made the switch so this would just put us in alignment with the rest of them. 

This is way easier said than done. I have tried EVERYTHING to get my kid to go to bed earlier, including turning off her phone and internet, etc. and she just isn’t tired! Even without electronics she would just stay up and read later instead. There would be no net gain in sleeping hours. But now if I didn’t have to wake her up at 6:00 am and could let her sleep until 7:30? Then there absolutely would be.

My guess is that some of the clubs and activities could be switched to before school instead of after school, since those activities are optional. Right now my kid has Jazz club that she goes to one day a week before school, and that’s literally the only day when she gets moving willingly in the morning because it’s a social thing that she’s motivated to do.

Believe me, with Discord and FaceTime these kids find plenty of time to fit in socializing.

My kid is in all the honors classes her middle school offers (math, science, language arts). She is getting straight A’s and almost never has homework outside of an occasional project or independent reading. The teachers at her school try very hard to give them enough time in class to get all or most of their assignments done in school when the teacher is available to answer questions or give additional help. They also have a study skills period that is similar to a study hall. Once she’s at home on her own, good luck getting a teacher to answer an email for help or to answer a question after school.

In our district, if they have practice 12 hours a week they can get PE credit and be released before the last period of the day. So it’s definitely something to check into.

Unfortunately, there are lots of schools where excessive homework is assigned. It isnt the ideal, but it is reality in a lot of places.

No, it’s one of the largest districts in Texas. There’s only bus service if you live over 2 miles from the school so most of the elementary schools don’t have bus service. My sons elementary school is a “neighborhood” school and there is no bus service. It only serves our subdivision. Most of the buses cater to middle and high school and it’s a mess. There’s not enough and they run double routes before and after school.

I don't understand why Texas feels the need to have such long school days. I think we can safely say it hasn't improved student outcomes. (Neither has taking away recess and/or specials classes, but I digress.)

My elementary schedule is 7:45-3:00. Even halfway through the year, we have PK, kindergarteners and first graders literally falling asleep at dismissal. The day is too long for them. I want to say middle school runs 8:30-3:45 and high school is 7:50 start time. Maybe. They might have changed it since mine graduated.

Our new appointed (with the state takeover) superintendent is pushing to extend both the school day and the school year next year. I'm hoping I'll be done with it all by then.

As someone on my eighth year of having a high schooler, I am so thankful that the district pushed back middle and high school start times to 8:50. When my oldest was in HS, it was so miserable getting to school at 7:50.