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I can't remember exactly when school started for my, but I think it was around 7:40? My senior year, I went to school in the mornings, left around noon. Went to the local Department of Transportation office to work as a secretary (co-op) till 4, and then worked 5-10 or 11 at a local grocery store! I'd have to figure out when to do my homework somewhere in all of that...
I went to two different high schools, first a private and then the public one. At the private school we had to be in 'home room' by 8:20 and classes started at 8:40 I think (this was 20 years ago now!)---when I went to the public high school they required everyone to be in home room by 7:20 I think, with classes starting at 7:40 or so....there was a BIG push driven by many teachers, parents, some students and even the principal to have the school board move up first class to 8:15....it was a highly inconvenient for many due to rush hour traffic, etc (this was outside a major North-east city), but to no avail....some of the neighboring towns started their high schools at 8am or 8:15, which was much more in line with modern family schedules for the area.
It is what it is, Robert. Our high schoolers have very early mornings and long days. Some kids do fine, and others really struggle. Believe it or not, some of our athletes have practice before school, as in 5:15 a.m.!
I went to universities and the earliest classes were at 8AM. I never once took a class that started before 9AM. It's just my nature.
Agreed. I'm nocturnal, by nature. I signed up for a Saturday morning class thinking that I would already be "up and at 'em" for school so I could get errands and chores done earlier in the day. I never missed so many classes in my life. Ugh. I can take night classes all week long, but a four hour Saturday class...never again.
It is what it is, Robert. Our high schoolers have very early mornings and long days. Some kids do fine, and others really struggle. Believe it or not, some of our athletes havepractice before school, as in 5:15 a.m.!
In my nieces' HS, the male athletes used to get the "prime times" for the weight rooms, gymnasiums, etc. for before and after school practices. The female athletes got whatever times were left. It caused somepretty ridiculous situations, like the girls being allowed to use the weight room from 5:30 to 6:15 AM and from 9:00 to 10:00 at night. Their HS started at 7:30 AM. And, this was only 12 to 15 years ago, not way back in the "dark ages" of equal rights. I'm pretty sure that this inequity was finally corrected when the school added an addition and increased the size and amounts of various gym areas (as well as increased academic areas). It was quite a hardship for the female athletes to get to school at 5:30 AM, practice & train and then have to wait an hour before school actually started.
Along those same lines. When I was in HS school, in the late 1960s, the sophomore girls used the "old, old gym" built about 1925 and the junior and senior girls used the larger "old gym" built about 1945 for gym classes. Female athletes used the old gyms for practice.
Surprise, surprise... ALL of the boys gym classes used the top of the line "new gym" built in 1965. All of the male athletes used the new gym for practices.
Both genders suffer equally at our high school. Varsity athletes get the prime times. I don't think any practices extend beyond 9:00 p.m., and most are done by 7:30.
A few years ago they made a change in our high schools to fit that survey of teens doing better by getting up later and high school began closer to 9:00 and ending closer to 4:00.
It took half a year before the complaints abounded all around. The last period of the day was seeing abnormally large numbers of absent students that did not occur before. (1st period absentees were far less on the prior schedule in comparison) Some were due to school related events like leaving early for a sports/fine arts competition, others due to kids leaving for doctor/dentist appointments. The kids who had after school activities found it next to impossible to continue in the activities and hold down a part time job, so one went out the window. Parents couldn't get the kids where they needed to be due to the lateness of their schedules at school versus the earlier schedules of the parents. Teachers said it was much easier to get students engaged when they weren't quite awake in the mornings than it was to engage them when they were dragging in the last period of the day.
The high school prinicpals pushed and voted to change the schedules again and since then our high schools have began at 7:30 and ended at 2:40. Most everyone is far more satisfied with this schedule than the previous despite what the experts have said.
Our district did a survey about 5-6 years ago about changing the starting time for the high school based on new studies that show teens do better if they stay up later and sleep in later--not so much that they needed "more" sleep, but just works best for the teen "clock". They surveyed parents, teachers and students in separate surveys-but asking the same questions. Teachers and parents, 80+% said to change the schedule, the KIDS however, 75+% said no, keep it as is. I thought that was very interesting.
So, will you move if your kids schools starts before 8:00??
We've had both schedules (start at 7:45 and start at 8:30. My system also has a later 9:00 start for some high schools.). And you know what? Just as many kids came to school bleary eyed and sleepy at the later time as do now with the earlier one (which was actually the one we'd had for years. We just went back to it last year after 4 or 5 years starting later). The same teachers came in late at the later times as do the earlier one and the administrators just adjusted their arrivals to not be there until the beginning of 1st Period.
We've had both schedules (start at 7:45 and start at 8:30. My system also has a later 9:00 start for some high schools.). And you know what? Just as many kids came to school bleary eyed and sleepy at the later time as do now with the earlier one (which was actually the one we'd had for years. We just went back to it last year after 4 or 5 years starting later). The same teachers came in late at the later times as do the earlier one and the administrators just adjusted their arrivals to not be there until the beginning of 1st Period.
Doesn't surprise me. The kids liked getting done with school earlier, being done with sports practices earlier, it allowed kids to have dinner with their families and still have plenty of time to get homework done in the evening. Never bothered me and our kids adjusted and lived through it to move on to college--where they now have 9AM classes at the earliest and think it's awful that they have to get up at 8:45 .
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