Well Crap

[lokheed]

The school board for the Orange County Public School district just voted 4-3 in favor of swapping the middle school and high school hours next year. This means that middle school classes will begin at 7:20am. Ben's mom teaches at a middle school. Ben's school starts at 8:30, with a drop off time of 8:10.

About a month ago she moved to a new apartment right near Ben's school. It was going to be perfect next year. She would be able to drop Ben off at school in the morning, work her regular hours at the middle school, Ben would be in the after care program, and she would be able to get him from school every evening. I wouldn't have a crater in the middle of my day anymore, and I would be freed up to travel more often for work, which is going to become more important in the near future. Now, I don't see how that is going to be possible. There is a before care program that is available as well as the after care, but it doesn't start until 7am. If it started at 6:30 there might possibly be a chance of it working, but as it is we are screwed. The next best option would be for her to change schools and work at a high school nearby Ben's school, but the positions just aren't there. The school district is currently laying off teachers, not hiring new ones.

Bugger.

Way back when, I used to drive to her place every morning early enough for her to leave for work on time, then sit around her apartment for as much as an hour before it was time to get Ben ready for school. If I have to do that again, that means getting up every morning at 5:30 am and driving all the way up there. And sitting around in my ex-wife's house for an hour to an hour and a half every morning. On the upside, it's really not much more driving than I am currently doing in order to pick him up every afternoon, and I would be back home in time to start a normal day's work. So I guess that's ok. But that takes regular travel right back of the table. I was really looking forward to being able to grow my position in the company, and now it seems I am totally screwed because OCPS wastes millions of dollars on crap like K12 Planet (a software boondoggle that has never worked), and then has to make it up with this kind of stunt.

I am... not happy.

Comments

[treebyleaf.livejournal.com]

Oh. Oh, shit.

:(

Please *do* make the effort of finding the direct contact of the people who voted, it is available, and complaining directly to them. (Never submit a general complaint through proper channels to a school board.) It's fair to point out that in addition to your own situation middle schoolers are more likely to have young siblings making this earlier send-off a daily juggling feat for their parents whereas high schoolers are more capable of getting themselves self-started for the earlier time. This risks presenting a daily hardship to many families. Hit them up also with the question of why either school time is so early, especially that of kids hitting the changes of puberty, despite the explosion of research showing that early school time are creating a health crises in adolescents (just run "puberty sleep" and "adolescent sleep" for links to more studies and articles than you can shake a stick at.)

One thing I know is school board politics-- this decision *can* still be reversed, if just one board member changes his/her mind decides to play up that change as if they are a hero. Most of these people are in it for the feeling of power, they like 'making things happen'. It was a close vote and wouldn't take much to revisit. Please give this a chance-- and good luck.

And good luck.

[lokheed.livejournal.com]

Extremely doubtful that the decision will be reversed. Last year Florida voters oh-so-wisely voted themselves a reduction in property taxes. This year, Central Florida is ranked number two or three (if I remember right) in the hardest hit losses in the real estate market. (The last time I had the stomach to look, our house had lost nearly $50,000 in value since we bought it.) The local school district is swimming in red ink. Now, a lot of that is due to gross mismanagement. They have wasted millions upon millions of dollars in the past few years on boondoggle software systems that have been abject failures. But the fact remains that the budget needs to be cut dramatically, and by swapping the schedule for high school and middle school will optimize bus routes and save an estimated $6 million in fuel, maintenance, and salaries. Of course, if some poor thirteen year old is hit by a car next fall while standing out at a bus stop in the dark at six o'clock in the morning, all of those savings will evaporate. But what the heck do I know? The decision was made after a six hour long public meeting in which the public overwhelmingly opposed the change. The school board made it clear that this was about money and nothing else.

[stannius.livejournal.com]

Maybe whoever runs the before-care program could be persuaded to start it earlier?