West Seattle schools: Start-time changes for next year stir concern

While the Seattle School Board met tonight, one increasingly hot topic for some local families was not on the agenda: Another round of changes in school start times.

The alarm has been sounded by the Sanislo Elementary School PTA, but theirs isn’t the only school affected. Transportation changes for Seattle Public Schools are going to change start times at more schools next year. Technically, the district decisions have to do with bus pickup times, not bell times, but the two are inextricably linked, with start times 15-20 minutes after scheduled bus times. From a notice the Sanislo PTA sent to parents:

We want to let our parents and families know that the Seattle School District has decided to change Sanislo’s bell schedule for the 2011-2012 school year. Next year school will start at 9:35 am with dismissal at 3:40 pm. This means that breakfast will start around 9:15. Students not participating in breakfast will not be allowed into the building until 9:30 unless they are enrolled in CDSA, a before school club, or music program.

The district pointed out in February that some changes were on the way, and the board approved “ranges,” but the district hasn’t made a specific announcement of times, since they are not final yet – district spokesperson Teresa Wipple says acting Superintendent Susan Enfield has the final say and hasn’t signed off yet. The district’s list of bus times – which says that bell times are generally 15 minutes after those times – would indicate school would start next year, if the list here gets final signoff, in this vicinity:

ELEMENTARIES – 15 MINUTES AFTER BUS TIME WOULD MEAN:
approx. 9:30 am – Concord (9:15 now), Lafayette (9:20 now), Roxhill, (9:20 now), Sanislo (9:25 now)
approx. 8:55 am – Alki (9:05 now), Arbor Heights (9:10 now), Highland Park (9:10 now), Schmitz Park (9:20 now)
approx. 8:45 am – Gatewood (9:15 now)
approx. 8:30 am – West Seattle (8:15 am now)

K-8 – 15 MINUTES AFTER BUS TIME WOULD MEAN:
approx. 8:20 am – Pathfinder (8:20 now)

MIDDLE – 15 MINUTES AFTER BUS TIME WOULD MEAN:
approx. 7:50 am – Madison (8:05 now)
TBD – Denny (8:05 now)

HIGH SCHOOL – 15 MINUTES AFTER BUS TIME WOULD MEAN:
approx. 7:50 am – West Seattle (8 am now)
TBD – Chief Sealth (8:05 now)

Again, ***the final official word will come from principals***, but that would be after district leadership signs off on the plan. If you have concerns or questions, check with your school’s principal; Sanislo’s PTA also suggests school board and superintendent messages:

You can reach our local representative, Steve Sundquist, at steve.sundquist@seattleschools.org.
You can send a message to our new interim superintendent, Susan Enfield, at superintendent@seattleschools.org

Sundquist also has community-conversation meetings coming up next week; here’s the schedule. We covered the last major change to start times two years ago. And if you still think “what’s a few minutes?” – here’s some context: Gillian Allen-White from the Sanislo PTA says that when her child started at Sanislo as a kindergartener in 2005, the start time was a full hour earlier.

ADDED: Denny and Sealth’s planned start times were revealed May 11th in a joint PTSA forum with the schools’ principals, who say Denny will start at 7:40 am and Sealth at 8:30 am.

7 Replies to "West Seattle schools: Start-time changes for next year stir concern"

  • Lisa K. May 13, 2011 (6:48 am)

    This is NOT the way for the district to save money. As one parent put it, “In what world is 10 a.m. a regular start time for work?” These later bell times make no educational sense and are putting a huge burden on our families.

    … Many families without flexible schedules and without access to childcare are dropping their kids off extra-early before school, resulting in unsupervised kids hanging about up to an hour before bell times. The district has said this isn’t their problem — parents were told to make arrangements or see their principal for help. So in addition to all that we’re asking of our educators, they’re now supposed to broker childcare, as well? And of course, families who can ‘afford’ childcare are paying to cover these extra hours that their children are in care.

    … Kids from struggling families, who rely on the school to provide their first meal of the day (sometimes even their first meal since lunch the day before), are coming to school hungry. Other kids eat breakfast at home after they wake up early, and then are starving by the time lunch rolls around at 12:30. Teachers trying to teach a room half full of hungry, squirrely kids are nothing short of saints.

    … Our children are missing out on enriching and educational field trips because so many programs aimed at providing opportunities for school-aged kids to see theater, musical performances, etc. are geared to start with 8:30 or 9 am school bells in mind — our kids can’t make it there in time to take part.

    … The district claims they are striving for greater parent engagement, but these sort of plans result in just the oppositie. Parents at these late start schools no longer have the time to walk their child into the building, touch base with teachers, keep up with other parents or the latest school news and volunteer needs. These opportunities for informal interactions between staff, students and parents are what help foster stronger educational communities with more parent and staff investment.

    … I could go on about the research that says younger children should be starting school at a time that best fits their natural rhythms, etc., etc. There MUST be a better way for the district to save the $2.3M they report this will cut from the budget without passing the burden on to struggling parents, overstretched staff and kids who get no say in the process.

    … It’s time for our bell times to serve the reality in which most our families live.

  • GAW May 13, 2011 (11:15 am)

    Thank you for bringing this important and nearly silent issue to light. I wish I’d seen it earlier.

    Here are some of the impacts:
    • Families forced shell out more and more money for before and after school care instead of being able to choose one or the other solution.
    • Lower and lower parent participation in schools as the opportunity for a “touch point” with the school teachers, staff and students became unrealistic with typical working schedules – which flies in the face of the district’s goal to have greater parent involvement in order to boost school performance.
    • Children as young as 5years old are being left, unattended for an hour or more outside of schools by parents who cannot afford costs of up to $500 and more per month for care. (Perhaps this doesn’t seem so harsh in light of the bright mornings of springtime, but I assure you that it’s pretty sad to see kids huddled outside of a building at 8am during January. Many of these elementary schools have no sheltered area at all.)
    • Young children walking home from school or their bus stops (as late as 4:45 in some cases) in complete darkness during the winter months.

    I don’t fault the parents that make these difficult choices. I fault the school district for choosing a solution that ignores reality. They have set a schedule for elementary schools that doesn’t match the normal work day and defies logic. Young, elementary-aged children require more supervision. Ergo…these hours dictate additional and more complicated childcare arrangements for working parents. For children that rely upon the schools to provide them breakfast, they will receive this important meal after 9am! For children that eat at home, they’ll get breakfast between 6-8am only to have to wait until well after noon for their lunch. Just watch the behavior and learning of hungry, tired kindergartners around lunchtime and you’ll start scratching your heads over this decision.

    Later start times make sense for older, independent middle school children who are shown to benefit from matching their academic efforts to their Circadian Rhythms. Furthermore, given the amount of effort we put into keeping teens out of trouble AFTER school, it flies in the face of reason to release them earlier in the afternoon instead of keeping them occupied later in the day. And yet, it’s not even been discussed that perhaps it should be the older students starting late to save the district money on transportation.

    This creep of later and later start times isn’t causing an outcry, because it doesn’t hit all families the same way and most probably because many of those families are already mute with a sense of powerlessness. But the impacts are felt by our neighbors and ultimately, the idea that our children should be put at such risk is unconscionable.

  • MAP May 13, 2011 (2:34 pm)

    Excellent points made by Lisa K and GAW. Fully agree on all counts.

    Would like to add that many families may not even realize how great the impact will be. 15 minutes doesn’t sound like much, but anyone with small hungry children knows that 1 minute can make the difference between a child ready to learn vs. a complete meltdown. At our school, where 55% of the kids get several (if not all) of their meals at school, pushing breakfast and lunch back 15-20 minutes will make already hungry tummies even more distracting.

    For families who are already struggling to cover child care before and after work, even later start times make the struggle that much more difficult.

    The losers in this equation will be the most vulnerable children and their families. If they fail to thrive, we ALL have failed.

  • Concerned Educator May 13, 2011 (2:54 pm)

    Amen! Sometimes I see an unsupervised child here at 7:30am, huddled in the doorway,when I arrive! When asked,”Why are you here so early?” the reply is, “My parents had to go to work. They dropped me off.” Thank God the custodian is here at 7:00am! The other side of this is that in the afternoon, our dismissal time is getting later, so parents are picking their kids up early to get to medical appointments, etc. – sometimes up to 10 or more kids a day miss part of their afternoon instruction! I really feel for many of our families, struggling in jobs with inflexible start times – probably the majority of our population!

  • concerned teacher May 13, 2011 (3:22 pm)

    I am a teacher from Sanislo Elementary and we have serious concerns about our new later start time. Do you really think that it is better for our children to start their day at 9:45? Obviously, you do not have the children in mind when making this ludicrous decision. What about the working parents who do not have the money for before school daycare? What about the students who wake up at the crack of dawn? Thiink about them at the end of the day? Do you think we will be able to raise the test scores now? Get involved and start campaigning to school board members and our superintendent to leave our times alone!

  • twicksea May 16, 2011 (4:05 pm)

    It seems completely illogical that start times should be so incompatible with the needs of families with working parents, especially young kids, and especially in a school like Sanislo with a high % of low income families who can’t exactly hire a nanny to drop by every morning. The image of elem aged kids huddling outside, unsupervised and unsheltered, is deeply concerning. I am not a parent, but I pay my taxes, votes yes on school levies and VOTE in school board elections. Are you listening to our concerns, SSD?

  • karen May 16, 2011 (6:15 pm)

    On the other hand, our school – Gatewood – looks like it will be starting 1/2 hour earlier. Didn’t the school start times JUST change??
    I understand that the schools are trying to tighten up things and run more efficiently but this is ridiculous! We go earlier, no later, bus service, no bus service, lines here, no there. Make a decision and STICK to it!!
    I am so tired of trying to figure it out. Do I need before school care, after school? Can we sign up for after school activities?

    Thank you WSB for bringing this to our attention – it was totally off my radar.

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