Seattle Schools and Later Bell Times

Just wanted to put this up for tonight; some further input from the Retreat and thoughts tomorrow.

Seattle School District presentation on bell times.

Framework timeline for work on bell times.

Board Resolution (not yet adopted) on later bell times.

Comments

Anonymous said…
It's going to take them 2 years to change the bell times? That seems like a very long planning period for something the board considers a priority.

A parent
6/10/14, 6:20 AM
Anonymous said…
Isn't that the resolution they already adopted that made staff do this framework stuff?

Just sayin'
6/10/14, 8:52 AM
Anonymous said…
This is Peaslee's fault. She could have focused her efforts to implement JAMS with a bell time driven by student learning, e.g. 8:15 am, for example. It is a brand new school, she could have pushed for it as a test case. That would have made a major impact on student learning, especially when you consider the geosplit push of kids out of eckstein will disproportionately hit poorer kids. If she had focused on that, having one school out of 10 with a more appropriate bell time would have proven how effective it is as an 'interventional' strategy, and there would have been a building full of teachers to speak unequivocally about the positive, measurable affects. And, parents in the entire district would have become an unstoppable force to demand sensible bell times for student learning. Massive, massive missed opportunity. She harmed her own objective by not doing this. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This is the first new secondary comprehensive SSD has opened in fifty years. She had her chance. Now, all staff will do is say it is too hard. Too difficult. Too complicated. There are union issues. There are civil daylight issues. There are athletic issues. Yada, yada, yada. Ain't going to happen. She could have picked off the low-hanging fruit of JAMS and used that as the wedge to make this happen for all. Pry the staff clam open, into action. Instead, she totally blew it. Director Martin-Mortis did too. This he knew this should happen, and he didn't bother taking this on to make it happen.

Skeptical that it will happen at all. But, it could have. She blew it. Really, really blew it.

Missed opportunity
6/10/14, 9:03 AM
Charlie Mas said…
Two years to change bell times? You believe that?

Let's remember that the Board has made a documented program placement procedure a priority for three years now, and there's no one even working on it.
6/10/14, 9:09 AM
Anonymous said…
When academics need serious boosting in this District, why push bell times as a top priority? If my child sleeps in later, it's still off to school to do CMP math and Readers and Writers Workshop. Maybe history will get covered, or not. Bell times are not a priority for our family.

seriously
6/10/14, 9:41 AM
Anonymous said…
Seriously,

Because bell times affect not only academics but also health & safety. And it is a much cheaper change than textbooks.

Maybe it won't affect your family, but my senior has 3 friends who will not graduate due to sleep related anxiety illnesses and 1 who will not graduate because of a car accident where sleep was a factor. Many more are in therapy or get medical treatment for things where sleep deprivation is a factor, more than are going to kumon for CMP2 therapy. It was shocking to me when we finally got the prize teacher for first period & she told us on curriculum night not to expect our kids to cover the material like her other classes since the kids are too sleepy to learn well.


Significant academic improvement has been documented in districts that moved start times later & the most improvement was seen in the kids who were performing lowest.

sleep-school performance

Also decreased dropout rate, absences, tardies, school discipline, & nurse visits. Had no affect on after-school sports participation rates. But associated with lower sports injury rates & improved athletic performance. Also kids who have more sleep are more efficient & get their homework done faster. Sleep in Fairfax research

And not school related, but decrease in depression & anxiety, decrease in teen car accidents, decrease in teen violent crime, decrease in cold & flu rates, decrease in obesity & sleep disorder rates. Teens Need Sleep Files

-HS Parent
6/10/14, 10:14 AM
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