Clayton High School Annouces New Start Time

Oh, yeah. This is really going to be a great start to the new school year. Now our family finds out that school is going to start at 7:00 am...needless to say we are not happy at all.

Fess up, School Board...why?

Sherry

http://www.johnston.k12.nc.us/education/school/school.php?sectionid=14


Per Johnston County Board of Education, please note that school will begin for all Clayton High School students at 7:00 this year. The first bell will ring at 7:00 and the tardy bell will ring at 7:10! Rest up now so that you can be on time. Likewise, school will dismiss 15 minutes earlier at 2:20.

 

Wow, and I thought West was starting early! :shock: My eldest would have died with these new early start times, he struggled enough to be there at 7:45. In fact, he hated getting up early so much that he used the subject for his senior project! :lol:

 

WAA!

 

What a wonderful idea for a Senior Project. :lol:

I would have never made it to school with these hours. Now we have to rearrange all other schedules. Man, oh, man!

Sherry

 

Oh wow!!! My daughter would get picked up around 6:30/6:45 AM depending on who the bus driver was (reg or sub), to be at school on time last year. I hate to see what time she has to catch the bus this year!!! Heck for her to get 8 hours sleep, she has to go to bed real early and that isn't always going to be able to happen due to marching band. I don't think I like this at all! When I was in school, we started around 8 and got out around 3 and had about 1 hour for lunch, 6 classes a day.

 

I think the high school will see two things with this- more tardies and poorer performance in 1st Block. It's been shown that high school kids need more sleep at that age than younger kids. They can't go to bed earlier and many of them are juggling studying with sports and/or jobs in the evenings. My dd had a very hard time with just making it with the old time-she will be more zombie like this year like many of the kids. I think this is a wrong move for the high school! One thing is for sure, I will be pushing to make sure her 1st Block class is an elective and not one of her core classes like math, science, history or english!

 

It was actually about the sleep hormone melatonin and it's role in teen sleep behavior. DS struggled with this horribly throughout his teen years (and at 20, he still does) which is why he chose it as his topic. He got an A!

 

I just don't know how these kids are going to function.

 

Probably just like the rest of us out here in the real working world. Lots of caffeine. And maybe some chocolate. And learning to sleep while sitting at a desk while looking awake.

 

School too early

I am interested in why they want to start so early. I do not have kids in high school yet, but remembering how I could not get up early as a teen, this must be torture for them. A lot of us do not even have to be at work until 8, and that is a struggle as an adult sometimes. I guess my biggest thing is, it gives the teens too much free time in the afternoon to get into trouble. At least with the younger ones, they could go to an afterschool program. It is easier to make little ones go to bed early and as a general rule little kids are early risers. AND if you are a teacher how and what do you do with your own kids if you must report to work that early? Who wants to try to teach a bunch of grumpy sleepy teens first thing in the morning? I see alot of issues with a schedule like this.

 

I'm pretty sure when I went to high school, we started at 7:15 and got out at 2:15. And that was a loooong time ago! It was tough, but I managed!

 

I don't know about you but I never had or did the following:

1) End of Grade Testing
2) Back to back projects, some which take a Village
3) Before and after school activities (some will say working on a farm was that)
4) SATs starting in 7th grade
5) Anything and everything having to do with the No Child Left Behind Act

It is not just the absurdness of the times it is the last minute notice. Today's world demands different things for our young than even four or five years ago. The economy is in the tanker and these kids need to focus in or they will get left behind.

Sherry

 

You are right

sherry has a good point. As an adult who went through Joco school system, we never had the pressures the kids had today. I went to the OLD Cleveland school, no AC, radiators, had to climb stairs, no big display of junk food in lunch room, etc... Who of us would say our education or intelligence suffered from lack of testing and all that jazz. I think I turned out prettty darn good (hubby may argue this point, but look at how other countries do their education, pretty much like we adults did it 'back in the day' and they are turning out just fine. I am just about over all this political correctness and nclb, some kids are what they are, why do the 'professionals' expect our schools to turn them into something more. Maybe we should start a boycott of high stakes testing, starting this school year, can we keeps our kids from taking the tests? I have a rising 3rd grader so I get to jump into the fray this year. Weigh in as Nancy Grace would say.

 

I hoping with all the pressure these kids have to where they actually have to show they can pass the classes and understand the material (projects), that they will be better prepared for college and the real world than I was.

Last minute notice? Sherry-they announced these times last year when they approved the staggered bus schedule, all they are doing now is making sure parents/students are aware of the new times.

I personally don't mind the early times, my kids need to get ready for the real world. Plus I'm one that likes to get to work early in the morning, and I won't leave until they are on the bus.

 

Sherry - I do see your point, and I agree. But believe me, we did have our own pressures at that time. We didn't have EOGs, but had "regents", which were very stressful, and many kids were in after school activities, like drama, sports, chorus, jobs, etc. And our senior project was a huge deal that took up the whole year, and was very involved. And our high school was grades 7-12, so we had those hours for 6 years, not just 4. I know it's early, and don't agree with it, but I'm pretty sure they'll survive! I went to school in the north, so in the winter I was waiting for the bus in the freezing cold at 6:30 in the morning, and believe me, I did not enjoy it at all!

 

I definitley remember standing outside in the freezing cold waiting for a bus before it was even light outside. They are teenagers. They will survive. Welcome to the real world.

 

Sure they'll survive. I know lights were out at 9:00 pm during the week when I was in school and all were accounted for and in bed. I know kids today who would never pass if that were the rule in households today. They are not adults, yet, so let's stop trying to have them adhere to an adult schedule, such as getting to work early and leaving late. Yep, a good employee does that, don't know a teen that really wants to do that for school.

I had not heard of 7:00 am for Clayton High until this week. Guess I am out of the loop as usual. Let them be teens, let them take tests but not constantly and let them enjoy life. It is not the 70's, 80's, or 90's this is 2008. Have a kid that is in band? How do they split the time up between academics, band, family and just being a darn teen? Have a kid in football? They've been training for a while now and will continue once school starts. Think they can keep the grades up, play football, practice, (some have jobs) and still be a teen? Think again. Mine is a junior this year and 7:00 am is way too early. Don't get me started on how many projects they have to do. I think they are really learning a lot and I have no beef with any teacher. I do want to understand how anybody thinks 7:00 am is just jiffy for a teen to start to school every day. Just my opinion.

Sherry

 

:iagree:Research shows that the teens need more sleep and to sleep later than the younger kids so it would make more sense to put the high school later instead of elementary. I do not understand why JCS does not do this since Dr. Parker is always pushing research as a basis for decisions and policies.

 

It's just a fact of life Grace. We have more kids than we have buses. Somebody is going to get the short end of the stick. I'd rather have teenagers outside waiting for a bus before daylight than elementary school kids. Simple as that.

 

I understand the bus side of this but still don't understand why we cannot buy more buses and find other ways to educate our children. And there but for the "Grace" goes the common sense.

Sherry