The Inconvenience Factor

Lordy. The town is up in arms again.

Several years ago one of the school councils (there are four of them as we have four schools, Pre-K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12) initiated a study on whether it would be beneficial to our kids to change the start time for the middle and high school to an hour later. Emerging research suggested that this kind of move is extremely beneficial to the kids. Then we didn't hear about it for a couple of years, aside from occasion blips in the paper of, "We're still looking at the issue!"

The school council that studied this issue came up with a formal proposal several months ago and presented it to the school committee last night for a vote. Leading up to this vote there have been several information nights, articles in the town paper and other school communication. The proposal had the support of the Superintendent and the majority of teachers.

After all the information was presented, no one could really argue with the research. Later start times are better for teenagers, and are linked to everything from better standardized test scores to lower risk for car crashes. The problems and arguments came in how it might affect the 3-5 graders. And parents.

We have four schools in town, and three bus cycles. C gets on the bus at 7AM on the middle school/high school run. M gets on the bus at 8AM for the upper elementary run. Next year S will get on the bus at 8:35 for the lower elementary run. With a time change for the middle and high schools, C and M would swap bus times; M getting on at 7AM and C getting on at 8AM. S would stay the same.

When I first heard about this, I thought, "What a pain in the ass! No way! Our family schedule is tricky enough as it is! No changes!" But then I got to thinking about this. Is my relative convenience an appropriate reason NOT to do this? Well....probably not.

An argument that many have used against the change is that they depend on older siblings to look after younger siblings in the afternoon. I totally sympathize with this. We use the extended day programs in town, and are always at risk of not getting in year-to-year because we only use it for M two days a week. I was feeling more relief as the years have gone by because I figured if we didn't get in, M could just come home those days and C would be there. That wouldn't happen any more. In addition, with a time change, the extended day program is more likely to be needed by more people exactly because of this - and we're even more likely not to get a slot. AND because the upper elementary school would be getting out earlier, the extended day program likely would cost more. Yes, this part is a pain in the patootie. Still, is this scheduling issue enough to reject a time change? I don't know.

Another argument was that the 3-5 kids need their sleep, too. Yeah, they do, but this argument fell totally flat for me. M is more alert earlier than C is. M goes to bed earlier anyway - and doesn't need to stay up later doing homework like C sometimes does. M, because he's in 3rd grade has a lower homework load.

Then the discussions and arguments went toward grades and test scores.

Our town looked at several towns with similar demographics who have made such a time change. In each case, the towns have seen steady increases in standardized test scores since the time change went into effect. Let me tell you, our town is standardized test crazy and highly competitive. I'd think on this alone it would have won wild support. There are groups in town who spend all their time comparing our yearly test scores to those of surrounding towns. "Why aren't our 9th grade social studies scores above this town to the north," and, "Why are our 4th grade English scores only 2 points above this town to the south. It should be 5 points!" (It's SO annoying!) This change gives them a likely increase, like they say they want - but then this same group starts complaining that a later start time will interfere with sports teams. Huh? What?

One group argued that in one town we looked at that had done this, test scores in their upper elementary group actually went down after the change. Okay, that's worthy of worry. Sacrificing one group in favor of another? There's some indication that it might actually be a 1-2 year blip due to a special education subgroup, but it's worth more investigation. (We've had our own issues with special education subgroups in this town.)

What's also been amusing and infuriating is the shrill group (led by the woman I mention here - who, by the way, has other interesting stuff going on for mention another day) is now, after years of "Why aren't are schools better? What are you doing to improve scores?" is now saying things like, "Our schools are great the way they are! Why are you changing a good thing?" Um, excuse me?

People seem to be forgetting that things always change. If it were success at a parent's job that required a family schedule change, they'd do that, right? And probably without much discussion.

Now, back to the school committee vote. It was last night. It went 3-2 in favor of the time change. Some groups are calling for the 3 pro committee members to be recalled. Oh boy. The two committee members I worked for in past elections voted for the change.

(One told me on email this morning that a teacher took her daughter aside yesterday and asked how her mother intended to vote. How completely inappropriate! It will be interesting to see how this plays into our town's upcoming election season. Neither of these candidates are up for reelection; a woman I mention here is running again.)

I'm not looking forward to the inconvenience factor. I'm not. I admit it. But this isn't about me and what is easiest for me, or what we're used to. It's about what is best for the kids. It's going to be an uncertain few months until we really see how September and beyond will look for our family - even though I am sure we'll all adjust. M was really annoyed this morning when I told him about the vote. He only grudgingly agreed that he might like it eventually when I pointed out he'd only have to get up really early for two years instead of seven.

Am I 100% convinced this is what is best for the kids? Um....no. But I'm more than 80-90% convinced. I think we need to try.

UPDATE: C just arrived home from school and called to check in. The boy who struggles to get out of bed in the morning, who was psyched a few days ago for the possibility of sleeping in later, is now against this time change. WTF? Apparently some kids on the bus who have parents who oppose the change convinced him that it's so awful for his younger siblings to get up earlier than him for those three school years. The way C likes to tease and poke M, I was thinking we'd have to work at preventing C from teasing M on the topic. ("Ha! I don't have to get up as early as you!") What. Ever.