I do believe the later start times are probably helpful for the older kids. However, the impact on the elementary kids was apparently not considered. My school starts after 9:00. The last bus leaves at 4:20, as it cannot seem to get to school on time for dismissal. This is a very long day for my first graders. Many of them are in day care at 7:30, and have spent almost two hours there before arriving in their classrooms. Younger kids are almost always freshest first thing in the morning. By the time they get seated, have attendance taken and start actual schoolwork, it is almost 9:30 and they have been up for hours.

At our school, the administration decided that reading would be taught in the afternoon to first grade. So, after lunch is when I am supposed to get them to focus and learn to read. So much for the new dyslexia awareness incentive. Most of them seem dyslexic by that time of the day. The truly dyslexic ones are toast by then.

By 3:00 the whole class is exhausted and very little can get accomplished that is at all meaningful. They start asking if it is bus time yet, and I tell them we have another hour to go, and literally some kids cry. They have snack, and lots of movement offered, but they are tired.

Then they go home and try to fit in a Scout meeting or soccer or whatever, and forget any kind of homework. I certainly don't think any homework, aside from reading practice, is at all feasible or even a reasonable expectation at this point, although I know some teachers are still sending the 30 minutes that we are allowed to assign.

On top of this is the family stress of before school child care. I have kids that are in the Kiss and Ride line a full half hour before school starts so that they can be first out so the parent can try to get to work on time. The kids just sit in the car and practice their reading and play electronic games.

Why can't the elementary kids go FIRST? If not all, then at least a lot of them?

TeacherinFCPS Wrote:
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> I do believe the later start times are probably
> helpful for the older kids. However, the impact on
> the elementary kids was apparently not considered.
> My school starts after 9:00. The last bus leaves
> at 4:20, as it cannot seem to get to school on
> time for dismissal. This is a very long day for my
> first graders. Many of them are in day care at
> 7:30, and have spent almost two hours there before
> arriving in their classrooms. Younger kids are
> almost always freshest first thing in the morning.
> By the time they get seated, have attendance taken
> and start actual schoolwork, it is almost 9:30 and
> they have been up for hours.
>
> At our school, the administration decided that
> reading would be taught in the afternoon to first
> grade. So, after lunch is when I am supposed to
> get them to focus and learn to read. So much for
> the new dyslexia awareness incentive. Most of them
> seem dyslexic by that time of the day. The truly
> dyslexic ones are toast by then.
>
> By 3:00 the whole class is exhausted and very
> little can get accomplished that is at all
> meaningful. They start asking if it is bus time
> yet, and I tell them we have another hour to go,
> and literally some kids cry. They have snack, and
> lots of movement offered, but they are tired.
>
> Then they go home and try to fit in a Scout
> meeting or soccer or whatever, and forget any kind
> of homework. I certainly don't think any homework,
> aside from reading practice, is at all feasible or
> even a reasonable expectation at this point,
> although I know some teachers are still sending
> the 30 minutes that we are allowed to assign.
>
> On top of this is the family stress of before
> school child care. I have kids that are in the
> Kiss and Ride line a full half hour before school
> starts so that they can be first out so the parent
> can try to get to work on time. The kids just sit
> in the car and practice their reading and play
> electronic games.
>
> Why can't the elementary kids go FIRST? If not
> all, then at least a lot of them?

Unintended consequences. Two words that are unfamiliar in FCPS.

As a teacher you should know that FCPS administration views the schools and kids as a necessary inconvenience.

To Karen Garza and the School Board, it is all about power and money. Just look at the recent travel figures. FCPS spends $80,000 a month on travel. This is for administrators. Yes, the money could be spent on raises for teachers and working out start times, but that's not what they did, is it? They went to Boston, Orlando, Germany, and the Johnson Space Center.

Hopefully we'll get a new school board in November. The current one is garbage.

As amusing as the OP's post was, I doubt it was actually from a teacher, unless that parent happens to teach as well, but regardless, My kids went to elementary school here in Fairfax and school started after 9am for them everyday. This isn't a huge change. Sure there were schools that started earlier, but there were others that started at 9:05, guess what, they survived. So will all these other kids.

Yeah Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As amusing as the OP's post was, I doubt it was
> actually from a teacher, unless that parent
> happens to teach as well, but regardless, My kids
> went to elementary school here in Fairfax and
> school started after 9am for them everyday. This
> isn't a huge change. Sure there were schools that
> started earlier, but there were others that
> started at 9:05, guess what, they survived. So
> will all these other kids.


Thousands of students "survived" under the old start schedule. So why change it?

Yeah Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As amusing as the OP's post was, I doubt it was
> actually from a teacher, unless that parent
> happens to teach as well, but regardless, My kids
> went to elementary school here in Fairfax and
> school started after 9am for them everyday. This
> isn't a huge change. Sure there were schools that
> started earlier, but there were others that
> started at 9:05, guess what, they survived. So
> will all these other kids.

Mine started at 8:20 in elementary school. Getting out at 4:20 is waaaay too l ate.

Loving the new start times; school buses no longer impact the commute.

The later start times for high schools is a worse disaster than most people predicted, especially for the elementary and middle school kids. Remember this was done to satisfy one small group of noisy moms, overturning 20 years of work by experts in transportation and education. All the caveats previously considered in start times and bus routes were thrown out the window to achieve the one goal of start high schools 30 minutes later.

Reality Bites Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The later start times for high schools is a worse
> disaster than most people predicted, especially
> for the elementary and middle school kids.
> Remember this was done to satisfy one small group
> of noisy moms, overturning 20 years of work by
> experts in transportation and education. All the
> caveats previously considered in start times and
> bus routes were thrown out the window to achieve
> the one goal of start high schools 30 minutes
> later.

There will be no bad press on the later start times until after the SB election. That also coincides nicely with the end of the 1st grading period. Later in November, expect news reports and other chatter along the lines of "We've be carefully monitoring the impacts of the school start times during the 1st quarter..." after which FCPS will start talking about transportation and other impacts. This will be used to justify a district-wide school boundary study, which will be used to break up high performing schools.