Let the Mayor/City Council Know You Want Two Tiers
From Liza Rankin at Soup for Teachers:
Apparently, the Mayor is considering contributing the one-time cost of $2.3M from the city’s coffers to make it happen. If the money is committed by May 1, SPS will be able to implement a two-tier bell schedule for THIS FALL and spare us from a 7:40am tier one start and a 3:50pm tier three end time. Please write to the mayor and your city council members to encourage them to contribute this money to benefit students and families in every SPS community!
Here is my letter to Mayor Ed Murray (http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/get-involved/contact-the-mayor) and to the Seattle City Council members (lisa.herbold@seattle.gov, bruce.harrell@seattle.gov, kshama.sawant@seattle.gov, rob.johnson@seattle.gov, debora.juarez@seattle.gov, mike.obrien@seattle.gov, sally.bagshaw@seattle.gov, tim.burgess@seattle.gov, lorena.gonzalez@seattle.gov):Dear Mayor Murray / Council Member,
I am a parent of a 1st grader and a 3rd grader at Leschi Elementary
and the legislative chair for our school.
At my kids’ school, about 70
of our 400 kids are homeless. These kids are eligible for free breakfast
and lunch. However, this year when our start time changed from 8:40 to
7:55, kids had a much harder time showing up for breakfast. More
students are being served breakfast after the bell either rushing/or
carrying food to class and not having the full benefit of breakfast
time. As a consequence, we have a lot more hungry kids at our school. As
I’m sure you know, kids not getting enough to eat has a dramatic impact
on learning, behavior, and overall development, and impacts not just
the kids who aren’t eating, but everyone at the school.
This earlier
start time is having a huge negative impact on our school, and the
current plan for is for school to start even earlier next year, which
will make it even worse.
Seattle Public Schools currently has a 3-tier system for start
times, which requires some schools to start way too early and some
schools to start way too late, creating a hardship for families who have
to get up extremely early to get to school, or who don’t have time for
homework or after-school programs because their school gets out so late.
A 2-tier system would work much better for families, but would require
extra money for additional busses. There is currently a proposal for the
city of Seattle to contribute the one-time cost of $2.3 million to
switch to a 2-tier system. Because the state bases its transportation
budget on last year’s budget, the state would cover all additional costs
beyond the first year.
Please, for my family and for many others in Seattle Public Schools, support the one-time cost of a switch to a 2-tier system.
Here are a few of the many reasons you should support this one-time expenditure:
–
current bell times have come with a number of unanticipated challenges
that will only be exacerbated with the additional 20 min being added to
the school day next year
– three tiers creates equity issues for elementary schools
– this year’s bell times had a big impact on family schedules and child care availability
– logistics of three tiers have an impact on city traffic
– 90% of the elementary schools that switched to an earlier 7:55 start time this year had an increase in tardies – 7:40 will be even worse
– enrichment opportunity and field and space availability for middle and high school kids has been negatively impacted and will be more so if we have a 3:50 release time
– bus drivers have faced hardships with this year’s schedule in their ability to get enough hours per week to qualify as full time and receive benefits, although the beginning and end of their work days got farther apart.
– two tiers will benefit families in all school communities across all demographics, in every part of the city
– three tiers creates equity issues for elementary schools
– this year’s bell times had a big impact on family schedules and child care availability
– logistics of three tiers have an impact on city traffic
– 90% of the elementary schools that switched to an earlier 7:55 start time this year had an increase in tardies – 7:40 will be even worse
– enrichment opportunity and field and space availability for middle and high school kids has been negatively impacted and will be more so if we have a 3:50 release time
– bus drivers have faced hardships with this year’s schedule in their ability to get enough hours per week to qualify as full time and receive benefits, although the beginning and end of their work days got farther apart.
– two tiers will benefit families in all school communities across all demographics, in every part of the city
Sincerely,
Me
Comments
Tardies at my kid's school, which has 33% FRL, increased by a whopping 101% from '15 to '16.
So, yeah, hard for kids to learn when they aren't in school & hard to see how starting school 10 minutes earlier won't make it even worse. I emailed the Mayor and the Council as well, and hope so much that they will make this two-tiered bell time a reality with general fund support.
http://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/School%20Board/16-17agendas/01_04_2017/I04_20170104_Action_Report_Transportation_Service_Standards_packet.pdf
Tier 3: 9:35 - 3:45
My family has a tier 1 kindergartener and a tier 3 third grader. The result to the family schedule has been dramatic and negative. The kindergartener needs to be up and fed and out of the house before the third grader even wakes up. They don't see each other until 4:40 p.m. when the third grader gets off the school bus. And then because the kindergartener is only 5, she needs to go to start getting ready for bed by 7pm at the LATEST to avoid a grumpy, underslept monster kindergartener the next day. That means my children only get to see each other for 2 hours and 20 minutes a day on weekdays.
Having two different start times wouldn't be as difficult if one of our children were in middle or high school, because by middle/high school, the children will be able to feed themselves breakfast and get themselves ready for school and at some point even get to school independently. But a 5-year-old and an 8-year-old still need parental help. And having their start times almost two hours apart really extends how much time I, the parent, need to spend on the getting ready for school routine each day.
I work from home and after my tier 3 child starts school at 9:35, I only have a four and a half hour work day before my kindergartener gets out at 2:05 p.m. That's a 22.5 hour work week. If I want to work any more hours than that, I need to either get my spouse to work fewer hours, pay for childcare, plop my child in front of screen, or work in the middle of the night.
Having two tiers would dramatically improve my family's life. We could live in the same time zone again. The kids could spent time together during the week. I would have more time to get my work done.
And we could see friends with jobs during the week. Because: have you ever tried to get together with dinner with anyone who works downtown AND still started getting your kid ready for bed at 7?
Mag mom
SPS craziness
Sorry - if two tiers means my HS student has to be on Tier 1 and there at 7:45am, I'm not supportive at all. The later 8:45am has been a godsend for attitude, sleep, and academic performance.
QA Parent
flip back
The choice here is between two tiers and three- and to me it's a no brainer that two tiers is a much better choice. Two tiers was the hands down preference of the Bell Times Task Force; and was strongly preferred by parents in all the community meetings (I attended almost all of them).
Creating a schedule that would work perfectly for every one of our almost 55,000 students is impossible- if you know what that schedule would be, please let us all know. Meanwhile, two tiers would create reasonable times for the great majority of families, and times that would align with the predominant sleep rhythms of most of our kids throughout their education- that is the best that we can do.
The City could make a huge difference in the lives of so many with this one time, transformational funding- please write and encourage them to do it!!
Letters need to be in before April 3rd- write one this weekend!
K-8s times would vary with some starting at 8:00 am and others at 9:00 am, and end at 2:30 or 3:30 pm.
Elementary and Alt schools would also have variable times. Most would begin at 8:00 am, but some would start at 9:00 am. -NP
Below is a sample letter and the pertinent addresses:
Email these people and request that the Seattle Department of Transportation fund this initiative. You may copy and paste the message below or write your own.
council@seattle.gov, ed.murray@seattle.gov, Dwane.Chappelle@seattle.gov, scott.kubly@seattle.gov
Dear Seattle leaders,
Please support Seattle Public Schools by allocating $2.3m to the transportation costs of the Bell Times Initiative, as well as $367k to continue the Crossing Guard Program -- effective this coming school year.
It's my understanding that Seattle anticipates collecting $14 million from school speed zone violations in the next two years. A portion of these funds can and should be used to ensure the safety of Seattle students. Based on ample research Seattle Public Schools has determined that shifting to two start times is in the interest of the safety, success, and well being of our students.
As a Seattle resident and parent I ask that you use the speed zone camera funds as they were initially intended -- to benefit our students.
Sincerely,
Seattle Parent
While I agree middle and high schooler's need a later start time should it really come at the detriment of younger student's sleep times?
Sleep Please
Is there a link to the proposal?
-Confused
bleeping crazy
http://issaquah.thoughtexchange.com/card-webreport/district-results/
The majority of responses to a proposed later start for MS/HS:
* MS and HS [would] start too late
* Later start time means later bed time
* Prefer current bell schedules
* Propose different bell schedules
9:00am is TOO LATE of a start time and 3:55pm is TOO LATE to end school! At IHS 67% of the students voted NO to this time change! 35 teachers would consider leaving and most would no longer advise after school clubs! Listen to the students and teachers! Switching to mornings for clubs/sports would lose many students!
I do not believe they will get more sleep. They will just stay up later.
Starting later is a good idea. But a 4pm dismissal seems a bit too late for high school students considering all the after school activities.
Getting out of school at nearly 4 PM is too late and may interfere with sports, clubs, jobs, and other activities.
-sanity elsewhere
NE Mom of 3
https://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/School%20Board/16-17agendas/01_18_2017/A02_20170118_Action_Report_Transportation_Service_Standards_packet.pdf
SPS should survey families/staff/students about the change this year, plus the possible change to a 3:50 release. Has there been any increase/decrease in tardies with the change? Do students feel more/less stressed? How do teachers feel about a 3:50 release that obligates them to stay until 4:20 (supposed to be available to students 30 min before and after school)?
flip back!
flip back!
Going back to 2 tiers makes sense.
-North-end Mom
Mag mom
HP
On the other hand, I recall seeing some analysis that the tier one elementary schools have seen an increase in tardiness this year. 7:55 is too early.
There was some outreach to parents on when the extra 20 minutes should be added to the day. The results were ignored because the district wanted something else. There was no outreach to parents at any point to find out if they wanted a longer school day and accompanying weekly early release.
I asked my MS & HS kids about the possible new schedule and they both thought 3:50 was really, really late. But neither of them wanted to start school at 8am, the 8:30 time was "perfect" for them.
Our kids spend way too much time in school and then they get home to do homework.
Something is seriously wrong, wish I had the guts to homeschool or the money to go private.
-Confused
Full Daze