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Comment by lackbeard | Hacker News Reader

I think something important is being glossed over by this article: "...distributing the best school start times more evenly..." Can someone explain to me what makes a start time "best"?

There was a section describing parents whose elementary school kids would have to start earlier, and they didn't like that because the kids would have to go to bed earlier and it would be tough to rearrange their work schedules to accommodate. But won't this also be true when their kids are in high-school? If they can't cope now, how will they cope then?

I always though it was obvious that elementary school and high school start times should just be swapped because in my experience elementary aged kids always wake up far earlier on their own.

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"Best" is a combination of... - minimizing cost to the district (number of buses, etc)

- high school starting later in the morning (adolescents need more sleep)

- ensuring adequate child-care options are available for little kids. Early start means more PM care, late start means both AM and PM care, etc.

Then you get compounding factors... - high school athletics. Parents don't want high school to start too late, because then there is no daylight for football practice (yes, this is an actual argument I've heard... parents would prefer their kids play sports than maximize the kids education). - race and income issues - either correcting existing disparities or avoiding creating them.

> "Best" is a combination of... - minimizing cost to the district (number of buses, etc)

No. The paragraph I quoted implies that the parents have some notion of "best" start times that has nothing to do with the district's perspectives. But the article makes no attempt to describe what that is! (Other than what I already mentioned and questioned.)

Child-care, and not having your kids practice football in the dark is the kind of thing that makes sense.

But what does school start time have to do with race and income?

But what does school start time have to do with race and income?

Snarky answer... It's the US, everything has to do with race and income, even when it doesn't.

The paragraph I quoted implies that the parents have some notion of "best" start times that has nothing to do with the district's perspectives. But the article makes no attempt to describe what that is!

My best guess... people are generally change-averse and parents are generally selfish a-holes. Lacking irrefutable evidence that the new time is better FOR THEIR CHILD, parents will violently protect the status quo (even if it's obvious to outside observers that the district as a whole would be better off with the change).

> If they can't cope now, how will they cope then?

Elementary school students (especially in the early grades; it's less of a problem for the 10-11 year olds) typically need someone to help them get out the door in the morning and someone to meet them when they come after school. This introduces a coupling between school start/stop times and parent work schedules.

Your typical high schooler can get themselves to and from school on their own and doesn't need to be watched over when they come home, so their school schedule doesn't really have to match up to the parents' work schedule.

And earlier is better for most parents of early elementary students?

The article was making it sound like later is better. Maybe because that way you can drop the kids off on the way to work and then have more work time in the afternoon while they're still in school? But I suspect it's more likely that whatever time it is works because you set up your work shift schedule around it or whatnot, but you don't have control over _changing_ that work shift schedule, so changing the school start times becomes a problem.

This is obviously not an issue for people with flexible enough working hours.

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