<p>I skimmed through the messages in this thread, and don’t see obvious references to the Fairfax County Public Schools (fcps.edu) in Virginia. They went through a huge review a couple of years ago. I think the final report was at this time last year. When the district figured out how to pay for the change, the proposed start times were floated, and fairly quickly shot down. A Google search should bring up the Washington Post articles on the topic. The main advocacy group was called SleepinFairfax. The problems were many – some of which were that elementary students would arrive home before high schoolers (child care), afternoon dismissals would be as late as 4:30 (putting more traffic on the road in evening rush hour), and an impact on school sports and activities (more utility costs for the buildings and some fields don’t have lights). It’s not that we love our 6:10 am bus pickups and 7:20 start times, it’s just that a good many of us could see equal but different problems with a later start. Our district is so large (160,000+ kids) that it is hard to make changes with transportation and scheduling.</p>
<p>So now we are going to force teenagers to struggle with sleep and efficiency. Niiiiice. :(</p>
<p>I haven’t read this whole thread, but there is plenty of research showing the benefits of later school start times for teens. There were well-publicized studies of schools in Minnesota which showed positive educational and health outcomes when high school start times were pushed back. I don’t think the positives are really debatable, but school districts have ignored the research and the early schedules continue mostly because of after school sports.</p>
<p>Lots of info here:
[Backgrounder:</a> Later School Start Times | National Sleep Foundation - Information on Sleep Health and Safety](<a href=“http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/hot-topics/backgrounder-later-school-start-times]Backgrounder:”>How Would Later School Start Times Affect Sleep? | Sleep Foundation)</p>
<p>My children start school at 7:30 and its not a problem for them. I’ve had a 9:00 p.m. bedtime for them since they were infants. They are used to going to bed early and getting up early and I’m convinced that it’s a large part of the reason they do so well in school. All three are straight A students. I don’t think any parents who allow their kids to stay up past 9:30 or 10:00 pm are doing them any favors at all.</p>
<p>Even on weekends, my whole family is up and moving by 7:00 a.m. It’s just how we roll…</p>
<p>John.</p>
<p>^I think it’s the fact that your kids are getting enough sleep that is benefiting them, rather than the early bedtime and waking times. It sounds like you’ve done a great job prioritizing sleep, which is pretty rare these days.</p>
<p>limbwalker</p>
<p>Although I think the structure you provide your kids re bedtimes is great, I don’t find it “doable” for many families.</p>
<p>My 9th grader has an EC which doesn’t end until after 9:15 pm one night a week. He can’t even start homework on this night until almost 10 pm.</p>
<p>Our public HS basketball games don’t get over until after 9:30 pm on week days and that isn’t accounting for travel time if the game is away.</p>
<p>And none of this even considers the kids who work. Most have retail jobs where the stores don’t close until 9:30 pm.</p>
<p>I am in an area without bussing, so our start times are later then the surrounding districts. The public HS starts at 8 am. Our private HS at 8:30 am. Our local tech high school has the earliest start - 6:45 am! And many of those kids are bussed.</p>
<p>I’m sorry…I just cannot fall asleep at 9pm. From the time I was 3, I have naturally fallen asleep around 11 and gotten up around 9, it’s just my cycle…furthermore, I do theatre, which often doesn’t end until 10pm</p>
<p>I find it ridiculous that schools won’t adjust for the MAJORITY of kids…sure…there are some early birds, but most of us are night owls. </p>
<p>I see kids fall asleep in EVERY class EVERY day…this includes rigorous AP Classes and such…These kids just can’t help it, they just pass out…</p>
<p>I wish schools would see the problem…Sports should NOT be the first concern…SCHOOL should be</p>
<p>In our schools system, the problem with making changes has primarily involved buses, which are used three times each day, for elementary, middle, and high school students. The schedule is based around the elementary school students, and minimizes the amount of non-parental child care they will need. If elementary school students came home one or two hours earlier than they do now, the additional child care costs would be significant. That problem is hard to overcome.</p>
<p>Folks, going to bed early is easy to train yourself to do. It is also the only way to ensure that you or your child is getting all the sleep they require. </p>
<p>"My 9th grader has an EC which doesn’t end until after 9:15 pm one night a week. He can’t even start homework on this night until almost 10 pm.</p>
<p>Our public HS basketball games don’t get over until after 9:30 pm on week days and that isn’t accounting for travel time if the game is away.</p>
<p>And none of this even considers the kids who work. Most have retail jobs where the stores don’t close until 9:30 pm…"</p>
<p>My kids don’t participate in any EC’s that end so late. If they can’t adjust the program earlier, then they just won’t have my kids participating in them. Pretty simple. They do plenty of other EC’s and their grades are more important to them and to me than any EC they may do.</p>
<p>That’s not to say that occasionally they don’t stay up past 9. They do. Sleepovers, or the rare school-related activity. But certainly not on a regular basis and like I said, I feel that our children’s success in the classroom is DIRECTLY linked to the amount of sleep they get. Their entire lives, they have gotten all the sleep they need, and still get up plenty early to do whatever…</p>
<p>It’s a matter of dicipline, that’s all. It’s too easy to give in and say “go ahead and stay up” or “sure, you can do that EC even if it’s late…” </p>
<p>If your kids get excellent grades, then fine. But if not, their sleep habits may be partly to blame. I can tell you that my kids are alert and looking forward to school each day (with rare exception when they’re ill) and their report cards reflect that. Lowest grade any of my kids had on the last report card was a 95, and that was only one. </p>
<p>Not trying to boast, but rather affirm that I believe this is a reflection of the quality of their sleep.</p>
<p>It is one of the few things I can do as a parent to help them when I’m not around during the day, and it doesn’t seem like a big deal to them because they’ve always done it. It’s something we started and continued from the time they were very young.</p>
<p>Longhaul, we lived out in the country for quite a while, and my kids were the first on and last off a 1 - 1.5 hour route. One of the reasons we moved into town was because they were spending over 2 hours a day on the bus. So they have more time for homework and household chores now. </p>
<p>John.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well, it doesn’t work for me…and I’m NOT willing to give up my ECs which are my passion…your so called fix it only works for maybe 10% of kids, if that</p>
<p>“and I’m NOT willing to give up my ECs which are my passion…”</p>
<p>Hey, we all make choices in life… </p>
<p>“your so called fix it only works for maybe 10% of kids, if that…”</p>
<p>It’s not a “fix” if the kids were raised that way - rather it is “normal.” I would agree that you would have trouble getting many kids who have been allowed to stay up late and get by with too little sleep to agree to go to bed earlier. When you have toddlers someday, you’ll understand when and where to fight your battles… ;)</p>
<p>It’s a lot easier in the long run to win them early, because you won’t win them later…</p>
<p>John.</p>
<p>I have gone to sleep at 9 PM almost every day in middle school. In HS (9th - 10th grade) I found that I had more difficulty sleeping that early - and then the added effect of schoolwork shifted my sleep time to 11-12 PM.</p>
<p>Geez, my next thread will be titled “what percentage of parent’s forum posters are students?” LOL!</p>
<p>Again, I don’t think it’s an easy “fix” without a great amount of dicipline. My kids were raised that way, intentionally. It’s a decision my wife and I made long ago. Not a problem in the world with waking up early every day, unless of course we’re visiting relatives. Then the awkward 2 hours happen while my family sits around someone else’s house in the morning, waiting for them to wake up… :rolleyes:</p>
<p>John.</p>
<p>limbwalker-when I was a toddler, I stayed up late. My parents were young(20ish) and they wanted to stay up, so I stayed up…I’ve been on this schedule forever…how am i supposed to adjust</p>
<p>Limbwalker, are any of those kids in college? Do they hang onto the early to bed early to rise system there? If so how did the they manage the room mate situation? Are they able to arrange classes without evening labs?</p>
<p>Oldest heads off in the fall. She’s a straight A student all 12 years and was offered a scholarship to Texas State and accepted into the honors program. No, she’s not the brightest kid on these boards, but I still feel that always making sure she got all the sleep her body needed has done nothing but help her. We’ll see how she handles college, but being accepted to the honors program allows her into the honors dorm, where it is far more likely she will be able to study and get some sleep. This was a priority for her and for us.</p>
<p>Other two are on the same track, with similar, if not better, grades. So the formula seems to be working so far… (fingers crossed!)</p>
<p>As for the evening labs, I can never recall any class or lab going later than 9:00 p.m. while I was in school. Hopefully she won’t have to do that, but once she’s in college, IMO she’s an adult and on her own…</p>
<p>John.</p>
<p>my school starts at 7:30 im at my bus stop at 7:10… takes 10 minutes to get there. ends at 2:25. clubs run until 3:40-3:55 (late bus at 4:00) sports runs until 5:00 (late bus at 5:15). i wake at 6:45… i get 8 hours a night</p>
<p>Wonder why the schools back east get out so much earlier than ours here in Texas. By more than an hour! Been that way as long as I can remember too.</p>
<p>John.</p>
<p>My school starts ten minutes earlier now than it did in the 08-09 year, which was also my freshman year…eeek! It was awful to adjust to getting out earlier! It also made it a lot harder to access the library, and for a friend of mine with a disability that caused him to type his assignments, it was a pain in the neck to get his assignments printed before first period. </p>
<p>I’m exhausted all the time, so I can’t really blame the start times…P: But there was a notable academic decline between the end of freshman year and first period this year for me.</p>
<p>i go to a public high school in connecticut. the elementary school used to start at 8:20 and the high school/middle school at 7:40 but when i was in fifth grade the school system did a major review and switched the start times. i couldn’t imagine starting school at 7:40. i get up at seven most days and that’s early to me.</p>