<p>I've recently become involved with a parent group in my community that is evaluating a possible change to the high school start time. Currently, the school day begins at 7:30 which means that some students who ride the school bus are picked up as early as 6:30. (I think all buses arrive at the school by 7.) </p>
<p>Does your child's school start as early as ours does (or earlier)? Do you think that teenagers are negatively affected by having to be in class at that time of morning, as some research suggests?</p>
<p>Does anyone live in a school district where the start time was changed during a child's high school career? And if the new start time was significantly later, was there a noticeable positive effect on your child's grades, focus, health, etc.?</p>
<p>I graduated in 2007, my sister is a junior now. My high school’s first class starts at 7:12, you need to be out at the bus by 6:15 and in the building by 7, earlier if you want breakfast. It was murder when I was in school, I never got more than three or four hours of sleep. I had to be awake by 5, 4 if I wanted to shower in the morning. I never had a clue what was going on until our second class, which started after 8.</p>
<p>I started high school with my first class starting at 7:20, but we lost time supposedly because we had too many snow days and they never changed it back. We had a program briefly in my later high school years where every other tuesday school didn’t start until later in the day, maybe 8 or 9. The purpose was for teachers to get together and collaborate or something in that time, and one of the biproducts was a later start time on those days. As a student, I LOVED those days. It was the only time I was ever actually awake for the whole school day. I would be fully in support of high school not starting until 8 oclock at the earliest, 8:30 or 9 would be better. Some parents worked on trying to make this happen at one point, but the problem is that they want the high school kids home on the bus first, then the buses go get the middle schoolers, then they go get the elementary schoolers-- who get home at like 4 oclock already, so that the oldest kids are always home first to supervise the youngest kids if the parents are at work. We were never able to manage a later start date while still maintaining that order, so it didn’t happen.</p>
<p>Our HS officially starts at 8 and runs to 3 pm. But there are only 6 periods, nearly 1 hr each. Teachers union refuses to change to 7 periods. So, for kids who are headed to top colleges and needing 4 years of english/math/science/language etc., they have an optional 7 am slot during which they offer some classes so that the kids can get all their academic classes in addition to visual and practical arts, PE requirements etc. mandated for graduation. Gym at 7 am. Its a terrible system and I wish they would just start at 8 am and have 7 periods. Sounds like they spend half the period working on ‘homework’ and only get about 30 min of instruction in many classes.</p>
<p>No bus service for the 7 am class meaning parent driving in at 6.30. At least DS now drives himself in, although in the snowy/icy winter we have had, roads have been awful in the mornings. The bus for the 8 am start comes to our house at 6.45. DS is very good about getting up, but I can tell its going to be a nightmare with DD coming up.</p>
<p>We have a similar situation. Classes at the HS start around 7:20 am. Bus comes around 6:35 am. They do it like this to coordinate the buses (MS pickups are around 7 am) and to ensure that the older kids are home for the younger siblings when the parents are at work. It’s brutal but the kids are used to it. One of the positives is that there is plenty of time for after school activities. Clubs at 1:50, sports (including weight room) at 2:30. You can still get home and go to religion or private music lesson. Just need to juggle the homework (just!).</p>
<p>It’s really early and the kids are often tired. But nothing is going to change here so no use complaining!</p>
<p>Our high school starts at 8:50. A lot of the sport and band practices are before school. The k-8 school starts at 9. However, we don’t have buses so that is a none issue. Having the teenagers up to leave the house at 7 for sports is hard enough, I can’t imagine them starting school at that time.</p>
<p>My school started at 7:40. I lived too close for the bus, but I used to walk there before I could drive and there was a car available. When I walked I usually left about 7:10.</p>
<p>My opinion is yes it’s early, but you get over it.</p>
<p>Yes, HS starts at 7:30 and is out at 2:30. Zero hour classes start at 6:30 but no buses for the zero hour kids. Once the HS kids are dropped off the buses start running for the elementary middle schools kids who start about one hour later. More elementary parents complain because they often can’t find “gap care” for their kids between the time they leave for the office and the time the elementary buses pick up. I think it works just fine for high school. Generally the kids are out the door then we’re out the door to our offices. After school activities etc. are finished by 6 which is the time we’re generally walking “in the door” from the office. If they push back the start time it just pushes back an already too short evening for dinner, homework, and anything else the family has going on. True it’s totally against teen bio-rhythms but I’m not sure how schools would structure the after school “stuff” any other way. My S1 is a super sleeper, yet he managed to get up at 5:45 every morning for 4 years for his particular zero hour class. I don’t think he’s ever scheduled a class before 9:00 AM in college.</p>
<p>This discussion has been alive ever since I can remember. They were talking about this when I went to high school. When my oldest was in high school, it became a real issue in our school district as a number of studies came to light and were featured in the local papers regarding the disadvantages of an early start time for high schoolers. </p>
<p>In the end, nothing was changed there. The problem came down to the busing. High school kids were bused first, then middle school, then elementary school. High school kids had the most after school activities, and for them to get home in time for a decently early dinner, and still have the hours for a full load had to start early.</p>
<p>We now live in NY. My kids go to Catholic school and start time is 8:20 am which is late by high school standards. I think part of the reason for that late start is that kids from NYC come from all over the boroughs to go to the various highschools due to the crazy way public high school lotteries work. It is not unusual for kids to have to transfer twice from bus to train/subway or even more, with a commute time of over an hour to get to and from school. </p>
<p>We are fortunate in that we live a mile from the train station, with a less than half hour commute to school including the very short walk from ending train station to school. So our son does not have to wake up at the crack of dawn to catch his train, and still gets to school well before the start bell.</p>
<p>When D1 was in elementary school they changed the start times from HS starting first to HS starting 2nd - it all was adjusted based on the studies that teens need more sleep so for our district and to adjust for the busses, MS starts at 7:50AM so S3 leaves the house first, and HS starts at 8:20AM so D1 and D2 leave next. ES starts at 9AM. HS gets out at 3:10PM and we have 7 periods a day on a block schedule. It does make sports trickier as they are after school and they used to have more time but it has worked out. When I was in school in the same district, HS started at 7:25AM and ended at just after 2PM - we had a lot more time to fit everything in after school and for me sleep wasn’t an issue but I can tell for my kids this start time has been a blessing. It was 1/2 way through the 8th grade year that I noticed more dragging by each D as they were growing and the later start time for HS was a help.</p>
<p>Classes from 8 to 3:30, with afterschool activities/practices/rehearsals often running til 6. NYC, so public transportation. I personally have a 2-hour commute to school, so I wake up at 5 or 5:30 and leave the house around 6, but most people have a commute of only about an hour, maybe an hour and a half, or so.</p>
<p>It’s tough but manageable. And I don’t see how afterschool things could be scheduled any other way.</p>
<p>It has been shown that the older teenagers are the ones who need MORE sleep and generally they are not at peak performance early in the morning. High schools should have later start times than elementary schools, but it is usually the other way around in practice. </p>
<p>High school should start no earlier than 9am, IMHO.</p>
<p>My HS starts at 7:50AM and my morning bus (long route + early stop) is 6:15AM. I catch an extra half hour of sleep by having my parent drop me off at 7AM before work. Dismissal is 2:30PM with various after-school activities. On average I get 5-6 hours of sleep on a school night and then I crash for 11-12 hours on the weekends.</p>
<p>Our high sch. starts at 7:15. School is over at 2:15. Buses come by around 6:15.
My kids (and most of their friends) did not ride the bus because it came so early. Before S1 could drive, he rode with older neighbor kid. S2 was able to ride with S1 for a year. Then snagged a ride with friends or I drove him until he got his license and drove himself.</p>
<p>Our large urban/suburban system shares buses among the dozens of schools in the district. They experiemented with a later start time in 2 h.schools a few years ago but concluded there was not a significant increase in attendance,test scores, etc. so went back to the 7:15 start.</p>
<p>I don’t know how schools that start much later get everything in. My kids played h.s. football and even with practice starting at 2:30, it was usually 6:30 before they got home. </p>
<p>Our system requires every senior to do a “Senior Exit Project”
S2 did his on this very subject (teenager’s needfor sleep). He did a peer survey about sleeping in school. 100% of the kids he polled said they slept in class at least once a week.</p>
<p>In our district, the coaches are the primary push for keeping school start at 7:30, because then they get longer practices with the kids before it gets dark.</p>
<p>So the 85% of kids who don’t play an outdoor practice start have their sleep ruined so that the 15% who do get more time to practice.</p>
<p>And that’s at an academically competitive school.</p>
<p>I hated 8:15 start time with a passion because of the 30-40 minute rush-hour commute to a school with no bus service. My on-call working hours and second job meant I was often up until 1, 2, or 3 in the morning. So my son was late so often that a few of his grades suffered. Commutes to school were miserable. He still has some anxiety about being late (as I do). That said, with all the ECs going on after school, shifting the schedule back an hour wouldn’t have worked for anyone.</p>
<p>Our neighborhood district (not my son’s school) changed its start time from 8:something to 9:something for the reasons cited here. They figured kids would be better able to get to school on time and alert.</p>
<p>Instead of showing up disheveled and bleary-eyed at 8:something+10, the students showed up disheveled and bleary-eyed at 9:something+15. Some even later because, with both parents already out of the house for work before they needed to wake up, they were on their own for waking, breakfast, and (in some cases) transportation.</p>
<p>The district quietly changed back to 8:something the following year.</p>
<p>I get 5 to 6 hours on an average school night. I physically CANNOT go to sleep any earlier-I lie there awake…
Furthermore, there are some times where I am gone from my house from 615AM until 10PM…that’s a 16 hour day</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but i think sports are a lame excuse for having the high school start so darn early. THe primary purpose of high school is EDUCATION-not sports, so schools should adopt policies that foster education.</p>
<p>I get my bus at 620, HR starts at 655 and 1st period starts at 714…it is RIDIC…All so we can be done by 2:10 …and for what? If we started an hour later I really doubt any ECs or Sports would be remotely impacted</p>
<p>westerndad - A school day + average EC meeting-time is roughly equivalent to a not-overworked full-time job. Except that people with full-time jobs (not including lawyers, entrepreneurs, and various other categories of overtime professions) don’t have 4 hours of extra work expected after they get off work, every night. And then I, personally, am willing to sacrifice a few hours of sleep so that I can have SOME free time outside of school, ECs, and homework.</p>
<p>My kids’ high school starts at 7:50 and has an 8 period day, ending at 3:10. If my daughter took the bus, she would need to be at the bus stop (over half a mile from home) by 6:45. I’ve chosen to drive her for this reason, and we leave at 7:15. There is an early bird period that starts at 6:55, and a number of the 1.5 credit AP science classes start at 7:25 to get the extra half period in. While I’m sure my daughter would prefer for school to start later, that would push athletic practices and the like later and make it near impossible for sports and academic teams to get to away games/meets on time. I think the 7:25 start next year will be tough for her, but I have no issue with a 7:50 start. Our elementary school starts at 8 and the middle school starts at 8:35, so the incoming freshmen have a rude awakening.</p>