So it’s early August, the Mets are seven games out, Mister Softee is omnipresent, and thoughts of your upcoming week at the shore are pulling you through the deals, decks, depositions, and deadlines of work. When out of the blue, you receive a letter informing you that the school start time a month hence, has been changed from 8:40am to 8am. Yikes, in a heartbeat, your whole ‘Rain Man’ world has been turned upside down! Everything else: work, vacations, bbq’s, golf outings, gets cast aside as you struggle to make contingency plans for the fall drop-offs and pick-ups. Unless you don’t have kids of course, in which case carry on.
That’s what happened recently to many of the parents in Long Island City, after receiving a letter from PS78 informing them of the change to the start time. So they took matters into their own hands and started a petition to revert to the old starting time. In addition to disrupted schedules, one of the main complaints centers on the greatly narrowed window for parents to be with their children. If you get home from work at 6pm and your child previously went to bed at say 8:30pm, that 2 1/2 hours overlap is now reduced to 1 hour 50 minutes, over a 25% loss.
Of possible greater significance is the body of evidence indicating early start times for students is detrimental to them. I’ll let you sort through the scientific and sociological how’s/why’s in the links below, I simply conjure up images of cranky kids and moody teenagers.
Finally, parents are upset about the timing of the letter. Apparently most other schools received the news back in June. This gave several neighboring schools the chance to organize, petition, and change the time back to the old one. Reverting back is allowable, but must go through an approval process.
So once again it’s protest time in LIC over a local issue1, or you can just sign the petition. As for me, I miss Snooki.
Two quick reminders: 1) If your child is going to be here next week(Aug. 11-15), sign him/her up for Trevor Daniel Soccer Camp. Trevor is a great coach, and makes the game fun, plus it’s right here on the oval in Hunters Point South. For more info email kickitlic@gmail.com 2) Shakespeare returns to Gantry Park this Saturday night. This week they will be performing Cymbeline. It starts at 7:30 and is free.
Petition: Change Back the New School Hours! – “We have learned that schools have the ability to determine their starting time, and that some of our neighboring schools in Brooklyn, like PS 29 and PS 58, have opted to revert back to the 8:30 AM arrival time after a discussion of the effects an early starting time would have on the families and children”
New Contract for Teachers is Altering Schools’ Hours – “A few days after they had launched the petition, the parents at P.S. 58 were already receiving apologetic feedback from their principal. ‘Please know that none of this was done in an effort to alienate or upset anyone,’ read a letter sent home on June 13 and signed by both the principal and the assistant principal.”
The Early Bird Gets the Bad Grade – “insufficient sleep among children has been linked to obesity and to learning issues like attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.”
Pricey Three-Unit Conversion in LIC Hits The Market – on 47th Rd, one with an asking price of $1.77 million is already in contract!
Joe Conley of Community Board Two Wants to Rezone Parts of His Zone for Affordable Housing Towers – plus each apartment winner will get a Ferrari, and every applicant an iPad.
New Renderings Show Dedicated Graffiti Space on 5Pointz Development – will it be courtesy of Disney?
- the last time it was for STOP signs on Center Blvd [↩]
mike says
August 8, 2014 at 5:50 amoh the horror
get a grip people 8am is not that early
Stop your complaining says
August 8, 2014 at 10:01 amYou get to see your kid an extra 40 minutes in the morning, so that makes up for the mommy time you lose in the evening. If that’s the only thing you got to worry about as a parent, count your damn blessings.
kids needs to spend time with their parents says
August 8, 2014 at 3:05 pmFor households with both working parents, we are loosing 40 minutes of time with our children per day, we are NOT getting any extra time in the morning, we’re loosing that time!
The kids will be leaving for school earlier and coming home earlier but most of our work days will still end at the same time, thus less time with our kids and also as a bonus we’ll get to spend an extra $3,000 per school year for the additional(and already costly) after school care that we will now need.
We are not trying to be spoiled brats about this, just looking at the realities of lost family time and the additional financial strain that most 2 parent working families will now face.
Anonymous says
August 8, 2014 at 11:55 amstop complaining about the people complaining. now someone tell me to stop complaining about the complainers who’re complaining about the people complaining…
i.e., use the same standard you have for “whiners” on yourself. everyone has the freedom in this country to advocate for their pursuit of happiness.