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These early school start times result in sleepy kids and frustrated parents. But, as of Monday, those kids and parents have the formidable weight of the American Academy of Pediatrics on their side. The organization released a new policy statement saying that “insufficient sleep in adolescents [is] an important public health issue that significantly affects the health and safety, as well as the academic success, of our nation’s middle and high school students.”
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<p>Public schools in my neighborhood usually start from 7:30 AM - 8:00 AM.
To arrive in classes at 7:30 AM, kids must get up earlier than 6:00 AM. It takes more than 30 minutes to ride the bus. Or it takes parents 30-45 minutes to drop off the kids because of bad traffic, especially traffic near schools.</p>
<p>Why do school districts want to start early?</p>
<p>My kids’ HS started at 9am and didn’t get out until 4pm. We liked the schedule but I’m sure that whatever school schedule a district picks, someone will complain. I do think that it’s interesting that my college sophomore always chooses an 8am class so that he can be finished earlier. He’s not a morning person, but I guess he values his free time more than his sleep. </p>
<p>“To arrive in classes at 7:30 AM, kids must get up earlier than 6:00 AM.”
-This does not sound correct. To arrive at work at 6:15am, I am getting up at 5:30am (I am driving). The time could be shorten by taking shower, packing lunch and laying out your clothes in a evening. Then all you need is to bush teeth and go since even breakfast could be packed in with your lunch. The huge benefit for earlier start is much lighter traffic. The diifference is unbelievable, you can save easily 20 min. or so just driving earlier. So, I would recommend go to bed much earlier and get to schoo even earlier than 7:30, you will save whole tons of time. 9am to 4pm schedule means that kids are driving in horrendously busy streets, creating lots of conditions for accidents. </p>
<p>It’s all about the buses here too but I think the little kids should go earlier because most grade school kids can go to bed earlier. We were lucky that our kids private school didn’t start until 8. The public high school starts at 7:00. </p>
<p>HS’er can got to bed earlier also if you have this rule in your house, D. was not allowed to do her homework after her sport practice, she had to complete everything before and go to bed right after practice, which was about 10pm. Iheard some horror stories from other parents at her school about kids sitting until 1am. Could be easily avoided. Developing time management skills is a very good idea before they go to college. So, they can sleep the same amount, not matter when school starts. It is just a matter of going to bed earlier. the time they spend in school is the same, if they start earlier or later. The earlier is saving them time because of lighter traffic. </p>
<p>It’s mostly about the buses, although some people would object to a later start because of interference with sports practices and after-school jobs.</p>
<p>The person who said that kids need to get up before 6 to make it to school by 7:30 might live in a district like mine, where the school buses drop kids at the high schools by about 7:00 in preparation for a 7:25. They have to arrive that early in order to get started on their middle school runs. Arriving at 7 may mean that the bus leaves the kid’s stop as early as 6:30. So for those who take the bus, getting up before 6 makes sense.</p>
<p>Obviously, a lot of families avoid the buses by having someone drop the kid at school just before 7:25, which creates horrendous traffic jams outside the high schools every morning.</p>
<p>Here the same busses are used for all 3 schools (elementary/middle/HS) so the start/end times have to be staggered so that the drivers can complete each route, drop off the kids and start the next run. Here the elementary schools start between 7:30-7:50, with most being between 7:45-7:50 (lets parents stay at the busstop with the kids in the morning), HS at 8:20 (more time for after school activities as school ends at 3:30), and middle school at 9:15. When I was in HS we had split session, and started school around 7:05, IIRC, with no lunch til after school was over. Things like band were in between the two sessions so all could participate. Hated that, as I walked to school and it was typically dark and often very cold. And even if lunch was packed and clothes laid out the night before, one still had to factor in the time to get up, dressed, groomed, fed and off to school, in time to get to one’s locker, put things away, get out the right materials, etc. So total of 90 minutes makes perfect sense.</p>
<p>Our buses run two routes. HS and middle start just after 7. Elementary starts at 8:30. They really should switch these IMO. I wrote as much to my school board rep when they were deciding on the current system. </p>
<p>Our buses also run two routes. Elementary starts about 7:55. Middle 9:05. High 8:55. I think it’s the best they can do while using buses twice. I think some routes combine middle and high school and drop at the hs then the middle school. The middle and high schools run many activities and sports before school, so kids often have to arrive earlier anyhow and parents have to get them there. Also, the high school kids regularly miss afternoon classes for sports competitions.</p>
<p>Our high schoolers get metro bus passes so no yellow busses but first period starts at 7:30 and zero period starts at 6:30. My kid is out the door a few minutes past 6 every day to get to the bus stop - gets up at 5:30. And Miami . . . in the first half of elementary school he used to shower and actually change into school clothes the night before so as to sleep longer as you suggest but a time comes when nobody wants a teenage boy to go to school w/o a shower first thing. Plus how else would he wake up in the morning? </p>
<p>We live in a regional school district. The HS is shared by three towns. My son will need to get the bus at 6:45am in order to arrive at school for 7:20am. </p>
<p>Our HS’ers do not want to take school buses after they turn 16. They want their license and their car and they want to drive. And when these 16 e o’s are going in the busiest times, I would say, let us just prey and then, of course snow starts but not as bad as to close the schools and it is dark. So, I would say, if they go in the dark and in the snow, how about going as early as possible to lessen the chances of the accidents. And if they do not want to be sleepy, then they have to go to bed earlier and again, they will not be in such a harry to get to their after school activities, which again a bit less chance at accidents. No matter when they start, they have to be at school for the same amount of hours. So, all these studies are just bogus, everybody has the same chance of sleeping the same amount, it is just a matter of moving schedule up or down, pretty straight forward.</p>
<p>This is a long-acknowledged problem. Sadly, unless you can afford to send your children to private schools that frequently begin their days later AND are willing to transport the kids (or pay for them to be transported privately), it doesn’t seem there’s much to be done. The other alternative is home-schooling, but that’s not an affordable option for a lot of families either.</p>
<p>@MiamiDAP, to quote the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan: “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” </p>
<p>Once again, you’re trying to take your anecdotal experiences and make sweeping generalizations from them. Remind us again where you received your scientific training, please.</p>
<p>My kid has to be at school at 7:30, but thankfully, he is able to sleep on the bus, so he gets a nap in. The bus driver, God bless him, makes sure that the big doofuses actually get off the bus when it arrives at school. I would love a later start time, but allowing for ECs and class options means that the last period is already pretty late.</p>
<p>Our busses are running several rounds of kids. My middle schooler needs to be at the bus stop at 7:00. Leaves the house ten minutes earlier. She gets up at 5:30 (by choice) because she doesn’t like to race around. could probably get up pretty close to six and be fine. </p>