You went to a shitty high school then.

I’d go a step further and say its what’s best for capitalism. Best for the parents would still be later start times, we just have to be at work by then.

As someone that lived with 2 high school teachers for 10y+, later start times don’t make sense. Lots of people argue that with later start times will make students ready to learn because they’ll have more sleep and be ready for classes.

As someone that had college classes in the afternoon, most people simply stay up later and offset whatever benefits they would have seen in the first place. I’ve seen it in schools as well. If they do move the start time back, you may also see pushback from parents that can’t afford to stick around in the morning to make sure the kids actually make it to school. Part of what made COVID hard was the amount of pushback parents gave from remote learning. Lots of the outbreaks happened when parents were angry that the kids were home all the time and not being babysat a the schools. So, they yelled at the school board, kids went back, kids got sick again, kids went home.

There will be pushback for pushing start times back and I don’t think you’ll see the value you think you will.

Sounds good until you have a disabled child that isn't capable. Or any child that isn't capable. Not every teen can thrive or even survive without supervision.

Why not do sports before school? Early start for sports, school at 9. If it's important, your kid will get up early, and kids who want to prioritize learning can do that.

Yes - weve known for decades that we should - will we? Nope - our country's only concerns start & end with the rich. Wish everyone would vote

My senior year of highschool I managed to get double free periods in the morning meaning I didn't need to physically attend a class until 11 am. Senior year also wound up being my best year performance wise and mentally. 🤔

I'm loving all the "it was good enough for me, it's good enough for my kids" comments here.

Like yeah, just because we all suffered through the wrong thing means our kids should too? If we have the opportunity to treat our kids better than we were, we should take it. Every.single.damn.time.

I taught in Portsmouth NH when the superintendent floated the idea of swapping start times elementary (k-5) early and 6-12 to start late. Many teacher friends who lived in town were excited as it meant their child could be dropped off at their elementary school and ride the bus to our middle school.

When the "shift" actually happened it turned out that due to bus costs ALL kids went later so that benefit was gone. The only one other nearby school that also made the shift Oyster River HS (in Durham NH). This meant for nearly every sport event requiring travel or not student athletes were dismissed early and missed their last class of the day (at least).

The so-called benefit of having sleep schedules match up with school times never happened as parents of lids those ages didn’t step up (shocker!) and attempt to get their kids asleep at the same times as prior.
If a kid normally stayed up until midnight now they stayed up until 1am for example, often much later. That and the fact that the overwhelming majority of kids that age had access to the internet 24/7 and had that access in their rooms meant that unless the parent physically removed the phone, computer, iWatch, etc from their "child" and shut down their home router their kid was awake late into the night. Even when the kid went to sleep "on time" it often did t matter when a less monitored/ dutiful child texted them at 2am and got them up for gaming!

I can attest that the number of kids who formerly showed up sleep deprived never changed that status. I’m convinced the whole shift only happened as a result of the superintendent's PhD thesis needed some data (I hope I’m wrong).

Bottom line, if parents aren’t willing to help their tween/teen make responsible decisions regarding rest and sleep needs, any shift in school start times is a joke.

Our schools are 730-2pm and I would be happy with 830-3pm and think the sports impact would be pretty minimal.

Regarding the night owl, laissez faire - IMHO as a parent of two HS’s, teens need boundaries and need sleep, and they will fight you about both.

I think the less the state mandates for local schools, the better. See: Florida

No. We all survived it’s not that bad to get up a little early. Soft af

We started at 7am when I was in high school. Although we also got out at 1:20 or thereabouts.

Okay, whatever you say lol. Why would you even ask?

Except that’s not the main reason anymore the main reasons are bussing and school sports. The same busses are used for younger and older kids. Earlier times for younger kids has more of an effect on parents who need to actively get those kids on busses. That’s much harder with a younger kid at 630am than it is at 8am. And school sports need earlier dismissals to allow practice and games.

I’m so sorry that “single factor” happens to be the most important one - kids actually learning things. How inconvenient, I know.

In our district they did push back start times in the last ten years. Warning: Old man rant! I used to walk the half mile to catch the bus before 5:30 and then face a 90 minute+ ride.

Fuck yes

It isn't because the adults just don't want to get up early. There is a lot more to it in regard to high school ages, including adults wanting them to be in school earlier to get out earlier and.... big surprise, here it comes... work! I'm actually surprised we haven't changed times of younger children, too, since the U.S. seems to be cool with child labor more than ever these days. Anywaysssss

Addendum: I think it's great when teens start working here and there. I'm just not okay with the mindset that we are sculpting our future into nothing but 9 to 5ers and not addressing mental health status, teaching them how to actually live outside of a work environment, and paying them way cheaper wages just because we can get away with it easier since they are younger. When I saw we, I mean the people who actually benefit from the lower-middle class workers. Which aren't the workers themselves, unfortunately.

Because they’re either kids that want to sleep more or adults who didnt play sports in high school.

It’s the reality. In the us we have school sports. To have school sports you need time in the afternoon which means an earlier start. Your argument refuses to acknowledge reality based on a single factor.

How is this what adults want? There are just as many adults in elementary school and yet they haven’t changed the times to suit their wants?

Yes. I advocated for it as a school board member. I was told it would interfere with sports. I could not overcome that argument on my own.

By the way, a lot of the Maine kids I met were working, too.

recess

> culturally just as important.

That's part of the problem.