No classes before 8:30 a.m. at California HS: Jeff Spicoli approves

What would Mr. Hand think?

As a proud graduate of a California public high school, I'm now using this excuse for why I'm not smarter. I went to school TOO EARLY.

I guess getting an after-school job just got tougher. If anyone actually gets after-school jobs any more.

California becomes first state in the country to push back school start times

 

A lot of towns in Massachusetts are doing this. The evidence it's better for the students is pretty conclusive.

 

I took AP Calc at 7:30 a.m., but I had to be at school an hour before that because the newspaper met before school. It was not a pleasurable experience.

 

Mixed thoughts. On the one hand, teens just do not function well first thing in the morning and asking them to come in before 8 a.m, which means many of them are up before 7 a.m. after doing homework or extracurriculars is just asking too much of them. My school starts at 8:15 and I wish we started later for some of them, but at least it's after 8. My sister's school doesn't start until closer to 9 and that I really enjoy (especially when I subbed at her school).

On the other hand, later starts is a pain in the ass for parents who commute to work or have multiple siblings to take to different schools. My school board trustee uncle (I have too many educators in my family) was saying he hates it because so many of his families are field workers. For districts that don't offer bussing (I don't believe mine does apart from special ed and some special circumstances), this could be an issue as some kids live two to three miles from school.

On the whole, this is really a good thing and I think the districts that are having the biggest conniption about it will eventually figure it out. My sister's district moved 6th grade out of the elementary schools and into the middle schools recently and you would have thought the whole education system was going to collapse by the way some parents were talking. But the kids are doing just fine and I haven't heard of complaints now that it has been in place for a few years.

 

People bitch, then they adjust. It’s evolution

 

I always tried to schedule a gym class first in the morning at 8:00 am, to get my ass up, awake and moving and to get a hot shower at the end of class.

My nieces/ nephew who are in, have been in, or will be in, HS the past 6 years or so inform me that you are only allowed to take 6 quarters total of phys ed in HS, and no showering is allowed after phys ed.

we were required to take 8 quarters, allowed to take 12, and showers were required after any phys ed activitiy except golf.

When I didn't have a phys ed class first period, I snoozed through it.

Of course, my high school days were the heyday of "do your own thing" academic thinking -- my senior year, I skipped school altogether probably once a week -- and one or two classes on a couple days.

I don't discuss that much with the young'uns.

We had school from 8:00-2:40.

The kids now go from 8:30-3:10.

 

About two years ago our local school district did the switch from high schools starting first at 7:30-ish and elementary schools starting last at 8:45-ish to the elementary schools starting first and high schools starting last.

I've heard nothing but positive reviews from parents and teachers, with the exception of some kindergarten parents feeling like it's too early for their littles. Mine aren't quite in K yet, but are used to a 7:30 daycare start, so it should be an easy transition when the time comes.

It makes so much sense you wonder why it took this long to figure it out.

 

Bus drivers. Lots of resistance to THEIR having to reorder their schedules -- at least here in Mass. I'm sure a lot of it was "Well, it was good enough for me" the battle cry of bad parents everywhere.

 

My 14 year old, who has to be in school by 7:30, is militant about unfair this is.

 

This isn't about giving in to complaints, as someone already suggested. It is a reaction to research demonstrating that teenagers function better with the later start times. Some of the districts around me made this kind of switch a few years back for that reason. Teenagers don't get enough sleep, in part because they have trouble getting to sleep early. This isn't a matter of being irresponsible. There is also research that indicates there are physiological reasons why people in that age group have a hard time getting to sleep early.

 

Some (all?) districts in Mass. now have seven-hour days. An 8:30 start means a 3:30 finish. That messes with a lot of athletic events and practices.

 

Agreed. I really don't miss high school.

I know we're talking about all of 30 minutes to an hour difference, for the most part. But that's quite a change, particularly for states with leagues/conferences/districts requiring lots of travel. Either athletes playing daylight-only sports are going to miss a lot of last period class time or need some other way to compensate. And that's still means doing homework on the bus rides.

When all nine teams in the Diablo Valley Athletic League are within 10 miles, it's no big deal (although now that might take more than an hour in Bay Area traffic). But I don't miss my two-hour Down East drives, trying to get from Rocky Mount to New Bern, Kinston or Elizabeth City and back for a conference sports event.

And that's not as bad as some of your kids have it.