"Saved by the bell" may be a common refrain among students, but parents and teachers are starting to ask if children should instead be saved from the bell.
The Start School Later Initiative, a petition encouraging lawmakers to start school no earlier than 8 a.m., was presented to members of Congress last week with nearly 5,000 signatures from all 50 states.
More than 1,000 of the signatures came from Maryland parents and educators.
"The [petition] comments range from student pleas for a more humane schedule to educators wishing their students weren't still asleep to health professionals and researchers seriously concerned about the damage we're doing to kids' mental and physical health," said movement organizer Heather Macintosh.
The school starting times at elementary schools in Eldersburg and Sykesville recently changed, sending some local students to school 80 minutes earlier this fall.
What do you think—are Carroll County school hours OK or is there room for change?
I have seen the studies for years but I also know that my students are at school for 10 hrs/day 5 days a week during rehearsals and even longer the week before the show. I would hate for that 10 hrs to stretch into 6 or 7 pm!
For example, we have 2 children that currently use after school care due to our work schedules. For 2012-13 school year, we have made adjustments that will let eliminate after school care which is an expense, but my wife has had to move to part-time because of the later start time. The net result is a loss of income to our family. We have several other family friends who now have to spend money for before school care since they don't have the ability to come in after 8:30am at their job. In our development, the net result is less disposable income to many homes. How does this affect the local economy? Maybe that is not Superintendent Guthrie's concern, but there is an economic impact nonetheless. Saving $2M is a lot of money, but how much of the overall CCPS budget does that represent? We live less than 0.5 miles from the elementary school that our children attend, yet they need to take the bus b/c the town does not have sidewalks to get to the school safely. Seems there might be other alternatives not considered, like crossing guards that would let some kids get themselves to school, thereby reducing busing needs as well.
That being said, if school started later, so would school traffic and that'd be nice for the rest of us, especially if it ended early enough to not interfere with the from work to home commute.
Federal mandates have been put in place when it concerns the minimum levels of health and safety for all children. Examples include: Federal nutrition standards for school meals Federally mandated school wellness policies Federal gun free schools / zero tolerance School start times are similarly a matter of public health & safety. State and local medical groups have been advocating later school start times since the 1990s, but an entire generation has grown up without anything changing (my own children included). If we believe the science on this subject, it seems negligent not to address it immediately. If the counties will do so, fine, but I don't see that happening any time soon.
Start School Later is still working on the national and now also state and local level towards a healthier school schedule. Local chapters in Anne Arundel County and possibly Montgomery are forming. Contact www.startschoollater.net if you'd like to learn more about recent science, legislation and state/county activities across the country.