Elementary schools here moved up from 7:45 to 7:35 this year to make up for a shorter academic calendar year, and even that feels early to me, but we are not morning people.
Regarding the early start times and sports, since middle school starts so late here (9 am), a lot of the sports teams practice or meet for conditioning before school, at like 7 am. It makes for a very long day for those kids.
Post by mainelyfoolish on Apr 20, 2021 9:21:41 GMT -5
Pre-covid, our MS was 7:30 - 2:00 (and HS was 7:30 - 1:49) and they shared a bus run. My DD was at the start of the bus run, so she had to get picked up at 6:35. Our district will never change the start times to later because they have to coordinate the schedule with the regional technical high school, where some kids spend part of their school day.
Since DD switched to the online charter school this year, she starts her day at 8:30. She doesn’t have any live online classes before 9 am. The later start time works so much better for teenagers.
Post by minniemouse on Apr 20, 2021 10:38:16 GMT -5
8:55-3:35. I cannot believe some of your kids don’t have a lunch break this year. That’s awful. Some high school kids here don’t get lunch because they choose to take an extra elective. That’s completely different than not offering a lunch at all. I still don’t like it, but it’s their choice.
Our district has limited buses so times are very weird plus some of these schools are close to each other (blocks apart) so they try and help with traffic flow with start/end times. Pre-Covid HS 8-3:10 MS DD is zoned for 9:05-3:30 latest starting and ending school in the district MS-C 7:45-2:50, MS-P&M 8:00-3:00ish Elementary go anywhere from 8am to 9am starts and gets out between 2 and 3. DD school is 8:45-2:45
I wish DD started earlier there is very limited before care in our district.
Post by soccermama on Apr 20, 2021 11:43:42 GMT -5
We have a couple different times for middle school in my town, that may be due to we have traditional and year-round.
DD is year-round and her school is 8:10-3. Bus picks up @ 7:25/7:30. I personally feel that is okay - i'm glad she is not at our traditional MS because they start at like 7:20 and i think the bus picks up at 6:50?!?? Ughhhh!!
Post by somersault72 on Apr 20, 2021 11:55:04 GMT -5
Our middle and HS are 7:45-2:20 7:30 is about the earliest I could fathom starting school. I imagine that would have some kids getting on the bus a little after 6 in your district. Yeesh.
Wow 7:10 is super early! I also wouldn't want my junior high kid sharing a bus with a high schooler. I am surprised they even have enough room to do that. In normal times our buses are packed with 3 kids per seat.
Our school days are very long.
Elementary: 8-3:30 Junior high: 8:46-4:17 High school: 7:15-2:46
So high school is our super early years. Not looking forward to it! There have been talks of switching the elementary and high school day which makes sense but it will never happen because of sports and also so many high schoolers have after school jobs.
Our middle school is 715. I believe they are bussed first. After they are dropped off they pick up hs kids. Then the elementary kids.
Post by goldengirlz on Apr 20, 2021 19:27:05 GMT -5
It’s interesting reading these responses. As annoying as a 7:10 start would be, 8:45 (or, sheesh, that 9:30!!) would almost be worse. How do households with no SAHP handle that? Is there before care? Even 8:30 would not be enough time for me to commute to work!
The vast majority of middle school aged children can handle getting themselves up and on the bus- and there is a low cost (staff needs to be paid) "before the bell" study hour for the ones who aren't there yet. Elementary kids with later hours are a much bigger issue- we regularly had parents dropping kids off at the locked gate an hour+ before staff got there when elementary started at 8:30.
The vast majority of middle school aged children can handle getting themselves up and on the bus- and there is a low cost (staff needs to be paid) "before the bell" study hour for the ones who aren't there yet. Elementary kids with later hours are a much bigger issue- we regularly had parents dropping kids off at the locked gate an hour+ before staff got there when elementary started at 8:30.
Ah, we don’t have buses here so unless you can walk (and not everyone is in walking distance), someone needs to drive the child. (There’s some VERY limited public transit but even that doesn’t connect all neighborhoods.)
But, yes, that has to be so tough. People often commute long distances!
The vast majority of middle school aged children can handle getting themselves up and on the bus- and there is a low cost (staff needs to be paid) "before the bell" study hour for the ones who aren't there yet. Elementary kids with later hours are a much bigger issue- we regularly had parents dropping kids off at the locked gate an hour+ before staff got there when elementary started at 8:30.
Ah, we don’t have buses here so unless you can walk (and not everyone is in walking distance), someone needs to drive the child.
There are plenty of kids who are driven- we drove ours and an elementary teacher's boys- lots of car pooling (which is definitely a good thing), and a ton of kids gather at the library up the street from our MS and walk the rest of the way in groups. Communities do tend to find a way!
Post by penguingrrl on Apr 21, 2021 5:09:58 GMT -5
Our elementary and middle school go from 8-3 in non Covid times. Right now they’re 8-1:30, but won’t go to 3 because there’s no safe way to add lunch. Up until early March it was 8-12:30, go home for lunch, then virtual 1:30-3. I felt that was a million times better than asking kids to go so long without a meal. They have snack, but my kids won’t eat it because they aren’t comfortable removing their masks while in the building, especially since all the kids eat at the same time, so it feels like a high exposure risk.
7 is way too early IMO. We struggle with the 8:00 start, and for my middle school kids we live directly across the street from school, so they can leave our front door and be in homeroom in under 2 minutes. Some days my oldest has 7:30 band, chorus or orchestra and she finds those mornings super rough.
When I was in school middle-high school shared bus routes. I thought that was normal. *shrug* Most high schoolers drove by 10th/11th grade anyway. I was the lone 10th-12th grader on my bus when I was in high school.
Post by luckystar2 on Apr 21, 2021 10:46:52 GMT -5
I hate our middle school time! It’s early but not horrendous itself but we also have busing issues and my DD’s bus pickup is obscenely early. There’s no way I can have her ride the bus because of it.
7:25-2:35 Bus pickup time is 6:14! We literally live 10 minutes away. This is her first year there and we have to drive her (which is only 2 days with hybrid thankfully). We leave almost like an hour later than when the bus would pick her up. It sucks but we had to reconfigure schools a few years ago and there is a bus driver shortage so some of the busing is awful. I’m not making my kid get up that early to just sit and wait at school before it even starts!
Post by plutosmoon on Apr 21, 2021 11:55:33 GMT -5
We have junior/senior HS (7-12) all in the same building and same bus. Current hours are 7:45-2:20, I'm not sure if they were different before covid. Our elementary schools (k-6) are 8:25-2:55. A lot of parents work service and tourism jobs, so aftercare seems to be more of an issue than before care, lots of high schoolers watch younger siblings after school.
Last year - 7:55 - 2:35 This year 7:35-1:45 Next year - one MS is back to around the old hours. We will be 8:25-3:25 IIRC. Our district is opening a 9th grade academy to take pressure off our high school. The elementary schools are both getting bumped back and the later one doesn't get out till 4:20.