- Jan 5, 2011
- 5,960
- 21,288
OK I'll give you a mom's perspective. I agree a lot with what ashscott41 said.
So, my thoughts:
This may be harsh, but I think this absolutely ridiculous. I'm inclined to say the kids in your district sound a little overindulged. Both high schools my older daughter went to (in Virginia Beach and Chicago, so 2 different districts in 2 different states) she didn't get lunch. Not open, closed, or whatever - no lunch at all, so I can't even wrap my head around having this argument. She had to schedule lunch as a class if she wanted it, and it didn't fit in her schedule. So I'm not overly sympathetic to a bunch of 14 and 15 year olds who are upset about not being able to go to Arby's. Check out other districts around the country and I think people where you live might be a little more appreciative of what you have. Getting a lunch period at all is becoming a luxury.
As for times, she went to school every other day until noon and on the opposite days until 2:40. Both days she started at 7:50. In Chicago she went from 8am to 3pm. Having the high school start so early and the elementary late was a real issue for me - I had to beg my boss to let me start at 9:30 because I couldn't drop little cp off until 8:40. I'm sort of indifferent to high school start times, as long as they left time in the day for sports and still get home before it got too dark (in the city the kids ride public transportation home, so I'm not real excited about kids riding the city bus and walking blocks from the stop at night). I think there's pros and cons to both - if you go in early, you get out early. Yay - long afternoon to do other things. If you go in later, you get to sleep a little more. Yay - who doesn't love more sleep? But I see what you're saying about the clubs. Since the majority of high school students can get themselves to and from school without parent help, those times don't really matter as much to me.
As for start times for elementary, as a mom I have to say I like "the earlier, the better" because I got places to be! If I can drop cp off at 7:30, then I can get somewhere. It used to be 8:40 - bosses don't like moms of kids with 8:40 drop off times.
I think it's great that you guys have chosen a way to fight for what you want in a way that might actually get someone to listen, but I obviously think this energy could be spent fighting for more worthwhile things. Good luck.
ETA: We don't have buses, so no scheduling worries there. Almost all kids in Chicago either walk, ride with parents, or use bus/train to get to school. So they can really time opening and closing any way they want for each school here without having to worry about other schools. Which I guess is good - there are a few hundred schools, and no one goes by district (we have school choice, so it's easy for a parent to have one kid that goes to school downtown and one that's 30 minutes away on the North side) - so that'd be a LOT of scheduling conflicts if they had to consider it!
So, my thoughts:
This may be harsh, but I think this absolutely ridiculous. I'm inclined to say the kids in your district sound a little overindulged. Both high schools my older daughter went to (in Virginia Beach and Chicago, so 2 different districts in 2 different states) she didn't get lunch. Not open, closed, or whatever - no lunch at all, so I can't even wrap my head around having this argument. She had to schedule lunch as a class if she wanted it, and it didn't fit in her schedule. So I'm not overly sympathetic to a bunch of 14 and 15 year olds who are upset about not being able to go to Arby's. Check out other districts around the country and I think people where you live might be a little more appreciative of what you have. Getting a lunch period at all is becoming a luxury.
As for times, she went to school every other day until noon and on the opposite days until 2:40. Both days she started at 7:50. In Chicago she went from 8am to 3pm. Having the high school start so early and the elementary late was a real issue for me - I had to beg my boss to let me start at 9:30 because I couldn't drop little cp off until 8:40. I'm sort of indifferent to high school start times, as long as they left time in the day for sports and still get home before it got too dark (in the city the kids ride public transportation home, so I'm not real excited about kids riding the city bus and walking blocks from the stop at night). I think there's pros and cons to both - if you go in early, you get out early. Yay - long afternoon to do other things. If you go in later, you get to sleep a little more. Yay - who doesn't love more sleep? But I see what you're saying about the clubs. Since the majority of high school students can get themselves to and from school without parent help, those times don't really matter as much to me.
As for start times for elementary, as a mom I have to say I like "the earlier, the better" because I got places to be! If I can drop cp off at 7:30, then I can get somewhere. It used to be 8:40 - bosses don't like moms of kids with 8:40 drop off times.
I think it's great that you guys have chosen a way to fight for what you want in a way that might actually get someone to listen, but I obviously think this energy could be spent fighting for more worthwhile things. Good luck.
ETA: We don't have buses, so no scheduling worries there. Almost all kids in Chicago either walk, ride with parents, or use bus/train to get to school. So they can really time opening and closing any way they want for each school here without having to worry about other schools. Which I guess is good - there are a few hundred schools, and no one goes by district (we have school choice, so it's easy for a parent to have one kid that goes to school downtown and one that's 30 minutes away on the North side) - so that'd be a LOT of scheduling conflicts if they had to consider it!