I never need worry that the P & C will give me nothing to write about, either by omission or commission. Take Sunday's paper, for example. It contains a relatively interesting article on changes in start times for schools in North Charleston. [Some North Charleston Schools Alter Start Times] According to Courrege, North Charleston and Stall High Schools will start an hour later than last year and some elementary schools will start earlier to accommodate the changed bus schedules. So far, so good. There's only one problem.
WHAT TIME WILL THAT BE?
Well, I know now because I took a look at the PDF attached to the on-line version of the P & C. But if, like North Charleston High School's principal, you're making a point about how teens need to sleep longer in the morning, wouldn't it make sense to state what time school has begun in the past? Seems logical to me.
The answer actually makes change more supportable. Since next year the late bell at these high schools will ring at 8:15, this past year that time was 7:15. That IS early. In fact, I've never worked at a high school whose schedule began so early, except for special elective classes outside of the normal curriculum (and those were scarce). And I assume that students also were dismissed at 2:15 last year instead of 3:15 for this coming year. That later dismissal time is still probably time enough for students to get to their jobs. Again, the P & C ignored the possibility that dismissal times would change as well.
Speaking of jobs, why does the state allow minors to work until midnight? Let's face it. The student who works until midnight is a part-time student and full-time worker. It should be the other way around. That schedule doesn't encourage a student to stay in school.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
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4 comments:
Good point about the lack of times being listed in the article. I know the P&C limits its reporters to how many words or column inches they can use, but leaving this kind of information out of the article almost makes it a waste of print. You're right, 7:15 is way too early for a high school student. Most people would agree that 8:15 is far more logical for teenagers.
My public high school's late bell rang at 8:35 and we got out at 3:00. But no one at my high school had to spend an hour or more on an out-sourced private school bus getting there either.
In case anyone is interested, my public elementary school began at 8:00 and got out at 2:30. That was over 45 years ago, so what's the big deal? Sounds like CCSD is a little slow on drawing logical conclusions.
Anyone who has teenage children knows that high school students sleep late. I thought this was common wisdom, but this was long before CCSD decided to turn wisdom on its head.
Finally!
Not trying to point out errors, but the late bell actually rang at 7:10 at NCHS.
At my school, James Island, the students used to start at 7:10am, and finished at 2:10 until last year.
It was bad because during daylight savings time in March, we were in school for 30 minutes before it got light out. That is rediculous.
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