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It's either childcare before school or childcare after school. And it really isn't the role of a public school system to provide free and convenient childcare.
I agree it should not be but it is for a lot of parents.
There are plenty of families (maybe even most) who don't have an older sibling to provide childcare for younger children. All oldest children are going to require childcare before or after (either by the parent, the school system's before/after care, private care, etc). None of the oldest and only children are going to have an older sibling to take care of them. Many of the families with an older sibling aren't going to be able to have that older sibling provide childcare, either. The older sibling may have a job, after school classes, or other activities.
It would be interesting to look at big systems with the late start for high school like Dallas's and Minneapolis's and see if the child care is a big issue. It's hard to say if it would really be an insurmountable obstacle w/o hard data on how many families in Wake Co regularly use older siblings as baby-sitters before or after school.
Early school start still kicks my parental butt in Chapel Hill. I'm glad this is my elementary schooler's last year of before 8am school start time. She'll be 6th grade next year and will get to go later.
When we had a child in elementary school in Chapel Hill, the early start time (high schools start last in CH) made our lives much easier. Our child went to school at about the same time we went to work so we didn't need to delay our arrival at the office, and we only had to arrange after-school care.
Although childcare is not the responsibility of government/ schools they have to consider how that would impact the overall wellness of the students . In a climate where ppl are barely holding on to jobs , I think it would have a negative impact on families ( especially single parent homes) which could in turn impact the productivity and safety of the children(home wise) in the district. Not everyone can afford to be a stay at home parent or to pay addition child care fees for both morning and after care - and of course getting to work late will introduce other issues
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