local politics, my rant - anyone else think this was a horrible idea?

[greenapple]

In May the orange county school board decided by a 4-3 vote to flip the start times for middle school (6-8th grade) and high school (9-12th grade). So now middle school children will be going to school from 7:20am to 2 pm, and high school will be from 9:30 am to 4 pm.
Now can you imagine what that is going to do, 6th to 8th graders unsupervised for 2 extra hours in the afternoon? I'm not saying that all children that age are thugs or anything, but tweens/young teens left by themselves??? Not to mention that they are now going to be out on the streets in the dark to get to school in the morning.
Now the high school children will find it more difficult to work after school and get homework and chores done since they won't be getting out of school until 4pm. Not to mention all the new drivers that drive themselves, and sometimes their friends, to school are going to be dealing with the tail end of rush hour traffic, or if they opt for the 0 period class before school, they will be in the middle of rush hour traffic.
How are the after school programs for the middle school children and even the elementary school children going to be staffed and kept affordable without the use of high school students?
This is my daughters senior year. They both wanted to get jobs, but will now be limited to working on the week ends, which ends up limiting what type of jobs they can apply for.
A group of citizens decided that the superintendent position should be an elected position, instead of appointed as it is now. Now the school board has enough money to sue the office of elections to try to keep the citizens from being able to decide if that should be an elected position, as it was when I was a child, but they still need to "flip" the start times to make up for budget shortcomings. It seems to me that the "flip" will actually cost more, not just in $$$$, but safety of the children.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Just playing devils advocate here.....Studies show that teenagers bodies are more geared to later nights and later mornings, and that most high schoolers do not get enough sleep. Maybe someone in your school government looked at this and decided that letting older kids sleep in might result in better grades and classroom attention.

Also some parents may feel that they prefer getting their younger children off to school before they have to leave for work. The older teenagers can get themselves up and off to school. Also while school districts do consider working parents, they don'at make their decisions based on parents concerns about after school care. They also don't care about the after school jobs of the older kids. My guess is that this is a budget issue due to the increased cost of busing. More younger kids ride the buses, so they get those out earlier, then do fewer routes for the older kids.

Here we're staggered with elementary, middle and then highschool. People I know in Minnesota have it reversed, so that the younger children won't be waiting for the buses in the dark.

 

[tomstephens]

I can see both sides.

Being who I am I would have prefered the early time even if that meant less sleep. However they may find better performance from the students overall with those hours.

 

[firem3]

i dont want to sound old fashioned but i think a parent should ALWAYS be home when the kids get off the bus, therefore the time change shouldnt be an issue. In my opinion the reason we are having so much trouble with kids is no one is home after school to provide dicipline and stability. We have become a society people looking to blame everyone except ourselves for our childrens actions

 

[gumpsgirl]

It sounds like that school board money that they are going to use to sue with could be used in much better places like "education" maybe. It is this sort of crap that made me pull my kids out of the public school system to begin with. What are they teaching the kids by suing the office of elections? Nothing I want my children to learn for sure.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

mom'sfolly :

Just playing devils advocate here.....Studies show that teenagers bodies are more geared to later nights and later mornings, and that most high schoolers do not get enough sleep. Maybe someone in your school government looked at this and decided that letting older kids sleep in might result in better grades and classroom attention.

This is EXACTLY what I was thinking. (I'm a professional educator at the high school level).

Some high school students will probably have sports practice before school, or eventually have opportunities to take "zero hour" classes before the day officially begins. It will work out...

Student schedules will be even more difficult once they go to college.

...and to anyone who thinks it's a good idea to dis the public school system... Please don't blame the teachers! The news loves to sensationalize all the worst stories they can get their hands on, but the majority of us are extremely hard-working, dedicated professionals. The government only returns $200 of the many hundreds I spend of my own money on books and supplies for my students each year because their parents can't afford to supply their children with essentials like pencils and notebooks. I work nights and weekends -- and yes, that "summer vacation"? It sounds like we're just sitting around on our butts, right? Not hardly -- I am planning new lessons, meeting with colleagues and going to trainings! I must continue my education (with no reimbursement) in order to remain certified; it's $1,000 per class. Good thing I love learning and want my Ph.D.!

During the school year, I get to work with some amazing, bright, respectful students -- and get to deal with others who are gang members or who are at school to socialize and sleep (usually because their parents have made their life such a living hell at home that school is the only place they can relax). I love it when parents and grandparents drive up to the school to try to help their kids fight their kids' enemies. We have special drills in case someone brings a gun into the school -- but I am not allowed to have a concealed weapon to protect myself or anyone else if that really did happen.

If I didn't love my job, I wouldn't put up with it one minute. I'd be somewhere else in a heartbeat.​

 

[greenapple]

The Chicken Lady, you are to be commended on your dedication to providing education to the youth of this nation

I wish teachers were taken better care of.

The flip is supposed to save money by having fewer busses on the road as there are a lot of elementary schools, fewer middle, and even less high schools. Instead of building all these schools where the houses are, they are building them fairly close to each other. Within a 5 mi radius of me there are 5 elementary schools (three of them are within a mile of each other, the other two are three miles away), three middle schools, and two high schools. The school start times are graduated. Last school year, high school students were in school from 7:20 to 2, elementary from 8:30 or 8:45 to 2:45 or 3, and middle from 9:30 to 4.

We are zoned for the high school that is a mile farther, and higher level of traffic to get to that school, which will be even worse trying to get there for the 9:30 start, I have personal experience from having to pick up one of my girls for a doctors appointment and it was a nightmare, and that was without all the students and buses. The buses that have to travel the farthest will now also have to compete with the worst traffic in the morning and the worst traffic in the afternoon.

The three school board members that voted against it did so because it was an issue that was brought before them without any chance to really look at wether or not it would save any money. Once they noticed the backlash from the community, the three that voted against it held community meetings to get input as to how the board could come up with the savings that "flip" is supposed to create. One of the board members had on the agenda to present these ideas to the board and ask for reconsideration, only one of the members that voted for it stayed for the whole meeting. When he made the proposal to her, she wouldn't budge, and would not reopen the issue for further consideration.

The majority of people speaking against it are the students. The children that ride the bus will not be able to participate in the 0 period class. The biggest problem with this is all the waste that could be cut out, but isn't.

We have the "FCAT" test on which schools are graded on. If a student attends a "failing" school, they can transfer to another school, and will have transportation provided. It is done in what I feel is a moronic way, they will run one bus, for one student, cross county, not necessarily the closest school with a higher grade but the school that the parents want their child to attend. We also have "magnet" schools with transportation provided for the students that wish to attend those, again one or two students cross county on a bus. I transfered my children to the closer high school so they could participate in FFA, which was not offered at the other school as it is one of the few schools not to have an FFA, I have to provide transportation.

I live in the same house I grew up in. When I went to school there were three bus stops in the neighborhood. Same neighborhood, a few more houses, and four more bus stops???? The bus route was in the shape of an L when I was young, with all three bus stops being on the long part of the L, the neighborhood was divided in three areas - west, central,east and you could go to whichever bus stop you wanted, in all reality this neighborhood could all go to the central stop, it is only a few hundred feet from the west and east, but now some stops are less than 50 feet apart.

Jeb Bush gave us the FCAT, based off the TCAT that Texas used to have. This test was more important to him than PE, Art, Music... If it is not on the FCAT test, the children didn't need to learn about it. The text books are now all geared to the FCAT. Now Governor Christ feels that PE needs to be back in school, and the FCAT is still really important, so more cuts to other classes to add mandatory PE. If the school gets an A on the test, they get extra funding. If they get a B or C, funding stays the same. If they get a D or F, they lose funding???? Make sense?

 

[d.k]

* Sounds almost like a version of what they called "split sessions". They tried it a couple years when I was in Jr. High here, and a different version when my kids were in elementary schools in Cali. Each time it would last a couple years, creating total havoc in family lives, and have to be scraped when they couldn't work out the kinks. I thought they had finally given up on the idea for good!!!!

 

[Cetawin]

There are pros to both. When I lived in that area, I actually lived in Winter Park and we had year round school which was great. Then we moved in Orlando and it was rough having my son at home alone in the afternoons...I was always afraid something would happen.

I would prefer it the other way around if it were my kids.

 

[DuckyBoys]

Makes me remember to be thankful that I make all our school rules and not the government.

Homeschool is wonderful.