APS decision to change high school first bell to 7:45 a.m. prompts petition (Atlanta: home)

[LynnHarris1]

Atlanta Public Schools’ decision to ring the first bell for high school students at 7:45 a.m. for the 2021-22 academic has prompted a petition to reverse the time change.

The change was announced in an email to parents late in the afternoon on Friday, May 7 as part of a recalibration to make up for lost education time during the pandemic..."

https://atlantaintownpaper.com/2021/...mpts-petition/

SOURCE: Collin Kelley, Atlanta INtown

[demonta4]

While I’m no longer in high school, I see getting out at 2:30 as a win for most students, especially those who participate in after school activities. In FCS, my school didn’t release until 4PM and we would often stay after school until 7-8PM. This move allows students to get home earlier and get some extra hours to rest in the evening.

[Yoski]

It may be a win for after school activities, but it's a continued loss for education. Many kids are barely conscious and unable to learn with the amount of sleep they get as is. APS pushing school up will only worsen that. This is a logistics issue of having not enough bus drivers and/or busses. That's were it needs to be solved, not by forcing teens to school earlier.

[jeoff]

Originally Posted by Yoski

It may be a win for after school activities, but it's a continued loss for education. Many kids are barely conscious and unable to learn with the amount of sleep they get as is. APS pushing school up will only worsen that. This is a logistics issue of having not enough bus drivers and/or busses. That's were it needs to be solved, not by forcing teens to school earlier.

Yeah, the buses have been a mess forever. But, from what I saw, they had actually been improving.
And , the later in the schedule the worse the buses seemed to get, early problems get magnified later in the schedule, so the middle schoolers tended to have it the worst, since they get picked up last. But, now the elementary school students will now be picked up after the high school students, I expect that they will have more problems with their busses had they been the first ones to be picked up—and a bus not showing up on time tends to be a bigger deal for younger kids. Also, I agree 7:45 will be worse for learning for high school students. With media, video games and social media they stay up too late as is, and now they will be getting up earlier, and, no, I do not expect all of them to decide to go to bed earlier.

[ATL Golfer]

I was fulton county. I barely made the first bell at 8:40 and always slept during 1st period.

This is a win for traffic. Sorry kids.

[equinox63]

Don’t high schools in Gwinnett County (which many tout as the holy grail of metro school districts) start even earlier than this?

[CMMom]

At least until recently, Gwinnett high schools started at 7:20 AM and ended at 2:10 PM. Good deal for extracurriculars and after-school jobs, but not so great if you have to take the bus (some kids are waiting for the bus well before 7 AM).

[Yoski]

After outcry, Atlanta Public Schools changes high school start time

Superintendent Lisa Herring on Monday announced a new high school start time of 8:45 a.m. for the school year beginning in August. That’s 15 minutes later than the 2020-2021 year, and a full hour later than an initial plan that drew protests.

She apologized to those who thought their opinion wasn’t sought.

“Your voice is always important,” she said.

Schedules for elementary and middle schools also will shift. Herring said the elementary day will start 15 minutes earlier and end 15 minutes later next year. The day will begin at 7:45 a.m. and end at 2:45 p.m.

Middle school will begin at 9:15 a.m. and end at 4:15 p.m.The district sent out an electronic survey about two weeks ago. It generated 6,240 responses, largely from parents in the North Atlanta and Midtown parts of the district.

Nearly three quarters of respondents favored starting high school later, the option APS ultimately selected.

Good move.

[Atlanta-Native]

Train wreck is the best way to describe how APS has handled everything this past year.