Changing the start of the school day

[Angela]

Okay, I am totally against changing the time of school. If you have a child that works or is in any after school activity this is really going to mess this up. Our kids do not get into bed till very late as it is. I do not see how in the world this will save money. My preference would be to go to a 4 day week. That is truly the only way to save money!

[Pamela Treacy]

I hope you are joking. A four day school week is not the answer.

[Mike]

Nice reply, completely void of thought. So why is 4 day not the answer?

[granma2]

I would wonder why you think a four day week is not an option. I'm not opposed to later start dates at all, but I would be open to a longer day for everyone only four days a week. I'd like to see figures on cost savings for that versus later starts at seven high schools. Which way would save more money?

[Karen Carson]

Until the state changes, a four day week will not allow any savings. At the present time the state mandates 180 days of school. If we went for 4 days-even going longer hours--we would still need to go for 180 days. There are some proposals in Nashville this year that are trying to get the 180 days changed to the number of hours of school required.

[Pamela Treacy]

Sorry my response was so short above. Karen filled in the details. We should probably be talking about a longer school year. It's projected about one of three kids will need remedial education after high school so more hours per week is probably needed not reducing the week to four days.

Four days will also cause the same types of issues for family and community as a later start time.

[K]

My preference would be to go to an earlier start day for HS and let the elementary go later. I dont want my teenager on the highway, yes, I mean Pellissippi "Speedway" at 5:00pm in the afternoon. Would you want your inexperienced teenagers on the road at rush hour? It is a safety issue. Also, an earlier start time would allow high schoolers to arrive home earlier to take care of siblings that would be dismissed at a later time. It makes much more sense for all involved.

Another thought...what about the kids that play sports? Right now, if a child plays, for instance, basketball, JV games begin at 5:00, Girls Varsity at 6:30, and boys at 8:00pm, with the boys finishing up at arount 9:45 to 10:00pm. If it is an away game, the child would have to be dismissed from class early to get to their game, missing valuable instruction in the classroom. If they decide to move the games to a later start time, would that mean that boys basketball wouldn't finish until 11:00? When is there time for studies? Some kids play JV and Varsity, so that means they go all day to school and go straight into a ballgame for JV and then have to stay for their varsity game. Would you want to be at your job from 9:30am to 11:00 at night?

I surely hope that all aspects are thought out on the late start times. Look at making the elementary schools start later.

NOTE: I found several school districts on the internet that had start times for high schools at 7:00 and 7:15 dismissing between 1:45 and 2:15, and elementary to begin at 8:15 to 9:00 dismissing at 3 to 3:30.

[Angela]

Okay if a 4 day week would not save money then my next preference would be for high school to start earlier. Not later. Kathy my child plays basketball and football. So I understand just what you mean. On Fridays during football season, when they have an away game, they are usually fed promptly at 3:30 so that their food has time to digest and then loaded on a bus at 4. If they don't get out til 4:30 and they are going to a school that lets out at 3:30, it just would cause so many problems. And look how many kids this would affect- band, cheerleaders and so on. Also if your child has a job and they can't get to work til 5 or so then they cannot work past 10 that cuts down on their wages.
I too haope that all aspects are considered are considered before this is changed!

[no privacy]

Angela,

I totally agree with you on this! My opinion is that it would make more sense to have elemerntary kids start later. But the real issues we have is transportation and the lack of...
The school system needs to purchase their own busses and provide their own maintance, like many school districts do across the nation. This reminds me of KBR/Halliburton, not taking the responsablity and subcontracting everthing out, even old liberty, and for what...to save money at the cost of lives of others? I guess that is why Halliburton moved to Dubi and fundle moeny through their off shore shell companies. So I look at this as the same game. NO ACCOUNTABILTY HERE, and at what cost? OUR children education.
There is no reason at all in my mind why any child who wants to ride a buss to school should be able to. What happen to our childrens right to free public transportation to school?

[Debi]

I don't see how we can start later without allowing for kids to be dropped off at 7am. All the parents that have 8-5 jobs cannot hang out until 9am to get their kids to school. Elementary kids cannot get themselves to school, and high school kids shouldn't be left alone to get themselves to school. Sure it's done by some families, but I for one don't wanna have that option.

[no privacy]

Well, in the cases in which parents work 8-5, if elementary kids are going until 3:30 or 4:00, parents could drop their kids off at Daycares in the morning which would cut down how long their child is in Daycare in the afternoons. Which would allow play time for the younger group.

Instead of a child having to spend 3 hours after school in day care, this would now split the time up. Does that makes sense.

[Mr. Bosworth]

Yours Truly, I disagree with you about the district owning their own buses. Perhaps you should start a new discussion regarding transportation and see what others think about the issue. In my experience, our neighborhood driver/bus owner is a real professional who cares about his business and providing good service to his clients. He owns and manages a number of other buses and drivers, and all the vehicles are clean and well maintained.The bus arrives on time, and he knows every child on his various routes. Accountability should come from KCS evaluating the quality of service provided and eliminating those driver/owners who don't measure up to their standards.

[Cathy McCaughan]

Bus ownership should probably get its' own thread, but at least for children with IEP's, the school system needs to have more control of the bus drivers' than they do with the current contracted owners setup.