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Post by katlady on Jan 4, 2024 5:25:56 GMT
The local high school by my house starts at 8:30. They do have a 0 Period which starts around 7:30. And then depending how many classes you take, they get out either at 2:30 (Period 5), 3:30 (Period 6) or 4:30 (Period 7). I just know that between 2:30 and 3:30, I don't go to any stores or streets near the school. It is a mess! Did you or your kids get nap/quiet time in Kindergarten? I did. It was for about an hour after lunch. We had mats that we rolled out onto the floor of the classroom. I remember a few kids being really zonked out, and not waking up after an hour. Maybe someone can set me straight but I’ve never understood the “kids need more sleep so they should start later” argument. Won’t high school kids just stay up later if they know they can get up later? I know that’s what I do as an adult! They probably will. But the later wake up schedule also fits in with their natural circadian rhythm. A lot of teen-agers are apparently not natural early birds.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Jan 4, 2024 5:26:43 GMT
My kids are beyond high school but this was a huge pet peeve of mine. Why just why did they have high school start at 7:30 and elementary at 8 something. The busing was just stupid. Elementary kids are up early and high school students struggled. I think they finally changed after my kids were gone.
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seaexplore
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,467
Apr 25, 2015 23:57:30 GMT
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Post by seaexplore on Jan 4, 2024 6:24:37 GMT
My 2nd grader goes 7:35-1:35. My 7th grader is 7:55-1:55. When she moves to HS she will go 8-3:15. Not sure how we will manage gymnastics team practice that starts at 4 an hour+ away. Might have to convince the school to give her study hall or PE at the end of the day so she can be picked up early on practice days. I teach continuation HS and my kids go 8:20-1:30. The regular HS goes 8:20-3:20. 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. She has team 6 hours and a silks class 1 hour. Probably wouldn’t qualify but I’m going to try. I know in CA that freshman PE is required so she will have to take it. My only real hope is that she can get study hall and we can check her out from there
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Post by melanell on Jan 4, 2024 12:10:16 GMT
Our 5th through 8th grade school starts earlier than every average start time on that map. And I absolutely agree that it's too early. We're up at 5am in order to have DS out the door at 6:35 for the bus. (We don't like to be rushed in the morning and we eat a cooked breakfast together every day as well.) BUT, I don't know that pushing the start time up would really help if the school day will just extend later into the day. Our issue is that trying to fit in any after-school activities, plus dinner, plus homework, plus any degree of free time all before bed is very difficult, because DS needs to go to bed so early to have enough rest to get up at 5 every day. But if he got up at 7am, and then stayed in school 2 hours later in the afternoon, and went to bed 2 hours later, the time allotted to homework, dinner, activities, & free time would still be just as short. What we really need is a shorter school day, but that's hard to come by in a typical school situation given how much time they spend just moving about the school. And my kids have always said they already don't have ample time to get from one place to another, so shortening the travel time between classes won't work, either. That is an area where homeschooling really helps---you can get a lot more done in a shorter amount of time. But alas, homeschooling is not right for me & my kids, so we're stuck with the school's timeline.
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Post by Bridget in MD on Jan 4, 2024 13:48:56 GMT
I guess Maryland didnt provide any data, LOL.
in my county (if I remember correctly), elem. schools are 830-315? middle school was the worst it was 715-215. high school is 730-315.
My son attends a private HS, and they run 810-240.
I do think it is all about the buses here. The private school buses pick up all levels for all Catholic schools. You get to a hub (typically a k-8th school) and transfer to the HS bus. That would take an hour, and his school is 10 min away, so I used to just take him so he got that extra sleep. He played soccer and golf, so I would go to the school late afternoon anyway...
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Post by Linda on Jan 4, 2024 15:24:27 GMT
elementary 740-210
buses start running well before 6am (when I had younger kids the bus often came at 540-545). They have to get the kids to school in time for breakfast (the whole county is on free breakfast/lunch) AND to have dropped off the kids in time to do the secondary route
6th grade 835-325 7/8th grade 840-324 high school 828-320
6-12th graders ride the same buses which stop at all three schools which are not especially close together
DD17's bus comes at 704 and she's not the earliest stop (close but not quite) - she is not infrequently late to school and has never managed to get there in time to have breakfast at school (although that's partly on her as late bus kids CAN go to the cafeteria and eat and then get a late pass to class but her 1st period class this year is Welding and her teacher doesn't accept late passes or absent excuses so she would have to make up that time after school)
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jan 4, 2024 15:29:38 GMT
Texas does have long school days. Intermediate (5-6) goes from 7:00 to 3:00 Elementary goes from 7:40 to 3:25 Middle school 8:00-3:45 High school 8:25-4:10 The problem with pushing back high school too much is that it interferes with sports, clubs and jobs of high school kids. It’s hard to work after school when you get out so late. Maybe someone can set me straight but I’ve never understood the “kids need more sleep so they should start later” argument. Won’t high school kids just stay up later if they know they can get up later? I know that’s what I do as an adult! Those are really long hours. How much time do they get for lunch? And how many days are they in school? I think my kid only gets about 20 minutes max which is barely enough time to get through the lunch line and actually eat. The proposed change for our district would have the high school kids in school from 8:45-3:15, so I think there will still be enough time for sports, clubs, homework or jobs after school. While that other stuff is important, I think being well rested and ready for school is more important and should be the priority. I think kids who do a lot of sports already don’t have time for jobs or other stuff so they just don’t do those other things. As for the point about staying up even later, I don’t know about that. We don’t have a set bedtime during school breaks. We just finished winter break here and I think my kid was willingly going to bed around 11:00-11:30 pm unprompted most nights (although she also wasn’t getting up until about 10 am the next day). On school nights, it’s a chore to get her in bed with the lights out before 10:30 pm. I can say when I was younger, even as a 20-something young adult, it was pure hell having to get up early for anything. Making it to my corporate job with an 8:00 am start when I lived five minutes away was awful. I remember hitting that snooze button multiple times before dragging my butt out of bed to get ready for the day. These days, getting myself up at 6:00 to take my dogs out and get my kid going for school is hard, but not impossible like it once was. Do I hate it? Absolutely YES (especially in winter when it’s cold and dark out), but now I wake up as soon as the “sunrise” light setting on my alarm clock turns on, which is five minutes before the actual alarm sounds. I roll right out of bed and get going without much hesitation, no snooze button, nothing. And it doesn’t matter if I went to bed at 10:30 pm or 2:00 am or any time in between, regardless of whether I slept well or like crap I’m still up when I need to be up the next day. Having said all that, I would absolutely welcome the later start so my household would be able to sleep until 7:00-7:30 or so, which is about the time DH and I normally wake up on weekends or school breaks without an alarm. If the proposed school time change happens next year, my guess is that DD would have to catch the bus around 8:00 am to get her to school by 8:30-8:35. If she showered and otherwise had her school stuff together the night before, she probably wouldn’t have to be up until 7:30 which would result in a huge improvement of both her mood and our overall household functioning.
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Post by workingclassdog on Jan 4, 2024 15:36:07 GMT
High School
8:30 - 4:30 Tues - Fri
4 days
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Post by Merge on Jan 4, 2024 15:41:13 GMT
Texas does have long school days. Intermediate (5-6) goes from 7:00 to 3:00 Elementary goes from 7:40 to 3:25 Middle school 8:00-3:45 High school 8:25-4:10 The problem with pushing back high school too much is that it interferes with sports, clubs and jobs of high school kids. It’s hard to work after school when you get out so late. Maybe someone can set me straight but I’ve never understood the “kids need more sleep so they should start later” argument. Won’t high school kids just stay up later if they know they can get up later? I know that’s what I do as an adult! Those are really long hours. How much time do they get for lunch? And how many days are they in school? I think my kid only gets about 20 minutes max which is barely enough time to get through the lunch line and actually eat. The proposed change for our district would have the high school kids in school from 8:45-3:15, so I think there will still be enough time for sports, clubs, homework or jobs after school. While that other stuff is important, I think being well rested and ready for school is more important and should be the priority. I think kids who do a lot of sports already don’t have time for jobs or other stuff so they just don’t do those other things. As for the point about staying up even later, I don’t know about that. We don’t have a set bedtime during school breaks. We just finished winter break here and I think my kid was willingly going to bed around 11:00-11:30 pm unprompted most nights (although she also wasn’t getting up until about 10 am the next day). On school nights, it’s a chore to get her in bed with the lights out before 10:30 pm. I can say when I was younger, even as a 20-something young adult, it was pure hell having to get up early for anything. Making it to my corporate job with an 8:00 am start when I lived five minutes away was awful. I remember hitting that snooze button multiple times before dragging my butt out of bed to get ready for the day. These days, getting myself up at 6:00 to take my dogs out and get my kid going for school is hard, but not impossible like it once was. Do I hate it? Absolutely YES (especially in winter when it’s cold and dark out), but now I wake up as soon as the “sunrise” light setting on my alarm clock turns on, which is five minutes before the actual alarm sounds. I roll right out of bed and get going without much hesitation, no snooze button, nothing. And it doesn’t matter if I went to bed at 10:30 pm or 2:00 am or any time in between, regardless of whether I slept well or like crap I’m still up when I need to be up the next day. Having said all that, I would absolutely welcome the later start so my household would be able to sleep until 7:00-7:30 or so, which is about the time DH and I normally wake up on weekends or school breaks without an alarm. If the proposed school time change happens next year, my guess is that DD would have to catch the bus around 8:00 am to get her to school by 8:30-8:35. If she showered and otherwise had her school stuff together the night before, she probably wouldn’t have to be up until 7:30 which would result in a huge improvement of both her mood and our overall household functioning. To answer the questions in your first paragraph - 30 min for lunch but eating time is about 20 after you factor in waiting in line, getting the lunchbox unpacked, packing up/cleanup time, etc. 30 minute recess at most schools through grade 4. Some schools reduce or eliminate recess for 5th grade. Other schools reduce or eliminate recess for all grades that take standardized tests on the premise that they need the instructional time. Texas has required instructional minutes per year rather than days. So a district can, theoretically, go to school four days a week for longer days and still meet their minutes. My district has always done 180 teaching days but the state-imposed superintendent wants to increase this to 190 next year. We suspect he will eliminate spring break and some other days off to make this happen. 😒
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Post by grammadee on Jan 4, 2024 15:41:41 GMT
DD17's bus comes at 704 and she's not the earliest stop (close but not quite) Bus time really adds to the kids' day. For a 9:00-3:30 school day, our kids usually got on the bus at 7:40 and arrived home just before 5:00. We were lucky to have their grandparents in town, so that when the kids had after school activities or hockey practice they could walk up the hill to Baba's instead of getting on the bus. When I got back to town from my job (about 5:30) I would make a sweep of the town: Baba's, the school, the arena to pick up kids before heading out to the farm.
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Post by Linda on Jan 4, 2024 15:53:10 GMT
DD17's bus comes at 704 and she's not the earliest stop (close but not quite) Bus time really adds to the kids' day. For a 9:00-3:30 school day, our kids usually got on the bus at 7:40 and arrived home just before 5:00. We were lucky to have their grandparents in town, so that when the kids had after school activities or hockey practice they could walk up the hill to Baba's instead of getting on the bus. When I got back to town from my job (about 5:30) I would make a sweep of the town: Baba's, the school, the arena to pick up kids before heading out to the farm. it really does - DD is gone 7-430 usually unless she's stays after then DH picks her up at 5/530 (usually 2-3 days a week). When DS32 was in high school, we didn't have a high school in the town we lived in. 9th and 10th grade he caught his bus at 515 and wasn't home until close to 6. We moved in his 11th grade year.
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SabrinaP
Pearl Clutcher
Busy Teacher Pea
Posts: 4,355
Location: Dallas Texas
Jun 26, 2014 12:16:22 GMT
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Post by SabrinaP on Jan 4, 2024 20:59:25 GMT
Merge since Texas teacher contracts are based on 187 days are they going to pay you for extra days. If they make the students go 190 I imagine teachers would need at least 195 on their contract.
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Post by Merge on Jan 5, 2024 2:35:34 GMT
Merge since Texas teacher contracts are based on 187 days are they going to pay you for extra days. If they make the students go 190 I imagine teachers would need at least 195 on their contract. That's the question! Nobody knows. We typically have two weeks of in-service before school even starts, so that would put us at 200. This superintendent has made it clear that he expects teachers to work as many unpaid hours as needed to "get the job done," so no, I don't expect we would be paid for extra days.
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Post by shescrafty on Jan 5, 2024 3:51:52 GMT
My county made the swatch last year and I thought I would hate it but I like it! Elementary go 7:45-2:25 High School 830-3:20 Middle 915-355
My K students are so much less crabby and don’t whine about being hungry and tired. I love being done at 230 with them as I now have time after school to get things done.
High school sports have adjusted and it is working okay after some major bus issues last year.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jan 5, 2024 4:16:30 GMT
Merge since Texas teacher contracts are based on 187 days are they going to pay you for extra days. If they make the students go 190 I imagine teachers would need at least 195 on their contract. That's the question! Nobody knows. We typically have two weeks of in-service before school even starts, so that would put us at 200. This superintendent has made it clear that he expects teachers to work as many unpaid hours as needed to "get the job done," so no, I don't expect we would be paid for extra days. Wow, that is so messed up. I can’t imagine expecting people to work for free does much for morale or motivation to actually work harder.
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Post by gorgeouskid on Jan 5, 2024 17:02:06 GMT
Elementary and high school start at 8:30 (high school out at 3:30, elementary out at 2, 2:45 and 3:00 depending on grade level). Middle school starts at 8 and out at 3:15.
No bus service in my district.
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Post by sideways on Jan 5, 2024 17:25:19 GMT
We moved during my kids high school years. They went from starting school at 9am to 7:30am. The later start time is SO much better. I can’t tell you what a difference it was when they went from a later start to an earlier one. With starting earlier, they were always tired, they got sick more, they were crankier and more stressed, and their grades slipped. Especially for the classes they had early in the morning. As far as extracurriculars with a later start time, people adjust. It was not an issue at all. The high school with the later start time was one of the highest ranked public high schools in the state, the school average GPA was 3.4, and was VERY competitive in all the extracurriculars. In fact, since we moved the start time was pushed even later to 9:30am.
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Post by scraplette on Jan 5, 2024 17:25:45 GMT
Our district high schools switched to a 9:00 start time around the year 2000. I was only an observer, my children were too young for school. The elementaries start at 7:40.
By the time my kids were in upper grades I wondered about the so called sleeping late comments. Our high schools have a zero hour beginning at 8:00, and most students we know had a sport or activity that practiced much earlier at 7:00 or 6:30.
Having zero hour allows for programs like CADD or automotive class to run two class periods. But no one was getting extra sleep, as promoted.
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Post by sideways on Jan 5, 2024 17:31:08 GMT
Texas does have long school days. Intermediate (5-6) goes from 7:00 to 3:00 Elementary goes from 7:40 to 3:25 Middle school 8:00-3:45 High school 8:25-4:10 The problem with pushing back high school too much is that it interferes with sports, clubs and jobs of high school kids. It’s hard to work after school when you get out so late. Maybe someone can set me straight but I’ve never understood the “kids need more sleep so they should start later” argument. Won’t high school kids just stay up later if they know they can get up later? I know that’s what I do as an adult! It doesn’t work like that. Teenagers aren’t wired to get up early or to go to sleep early. My youngest used to complain about that. He’d be tired, yet he just could not get to sleep at a reasonable time. Even on the off night he could get to sleep early-ish, it was still a fight to get him to wake up in the morning. As for later start and extra curriculars and jobs, it works just fine. My kids HS didn’t let out until 3:55pm and I never heard anyone have an issue with those things. The community adjusts.
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