Middle schools will start the day earlier, and high schools lat...

Great, now pesky middle schoolers are going to be out earlier, so they can commit crimes and do drugs longer.

And now high schoolers who have after-school jobs won't be able to earn as much money.

Orange County School Board members are jokesters and easily decieved...i.e. they did none of their own research !!! and believed in flawed research. What research shows teen bodies need sleep between 11pm - 8am.?? All Humans and mamals do no matter what age!! What idiot came up with this "news"?? Who were the researchers, what are their credentials, and who were their sponsors?? Can the Timber Creek junior tell us the details of the "research" or was the Board misled about phony research?? Students holding early morning jobs??? Only the grocery stores open at 6 am. School board members are dumber than their students!!!

It is disingenuous to suggest that this might be reversed in a year or two.
The change will open the opportunity to add additional opportunities for electives in high school without disrupting bus schedules.
The PTSA president at Southwest MS cited scads of registered sexual offenders near the middle schools but those statistics show they are almost all adult on adult crime, ie no pedophiles.
The final vote, 4-3, reflects the split thinking in the community but I feel certain that the right decision was arrived at on this issue.
Change is not easy but leaders are adaptable, and followers will follow the lead of the leaders.
Mrs. Ardaman should have held a community outreach in her district beforehand to flesh out possible alternatives to this change.
Community dialog does not occur when meetings like these yield essentially two monologues.
Putting off a decision such as this would have only added stress to the community that will have to adapt to the changes.

lets see...a $6 million savings out of a $1.5 billion budget equates to .004 percent. You're telling me that a government run bloat-cake like OCPS can't find anywhere else to save money that wouldn't give a collective finger to the will of the people who voted you edu-crats into office?

Great. So after the first Middle Schooler waiting for a bus in the dark is run over, or raped, how much money will have been saved?

If it's about saving money, why not start ALL schools later so the buses can be run more efficiently? Why invite chaos by requiring 13 year olds to wait for a school bus in predawn hours?

We aren't living in Mayberry. There are genuine reasons to fear this change.

Richard wrote:

Great, now pesky middle schoolers are going to be out earlier, so they can commit crimes and do drugs longer.
And now high schoolers who have after-school jobs won't be able to earn as much money.

It's about time the County stopped subsidizing parents' day care. Talk about a huge welfare program!

I can understand the anger....people don't like sudden change. There are genuine reasons to fear any change. But I'm sorry, pay for your own darn after school child care! Florida residents continually vote for lower property taxes. Time to pay the piper.

Congratulations, This is a part of the big tax cut on the amendment that was voted on for the exemption of homes. Lets not forget the bus drivers that loose their jobs and the teachers that will loose their jobs next year.

To save more money I guest the Fcat can be given at the beginning of the year so students who pass don’t have to go to school. Being that the Fcat is the deciding factor of weather or not you pass the Grade level. Then comes online teaching one teacher one grade. Wow what a tax savings. No Bus, Twelve Teachers, No social interaction, It’ll save millions.

They can't be serious, Ronald Blocker is more of an idiot that I thought. Early morning jobs for high schoolers? yeah, right, I can tell you that there will be a lot of businesses scrambling to fill minimum wage jobs that these students had after school (mine included), not to mention the families that had there older kids watching siblings so that they could save some money. And the argument that kids learn better later in the day (which is totally unsubstantiated), so what happens to those middle schoolers who are forced to go to school earlier? they just do worse in school and that's ok? Maybe if we cut out Mr. Blocker's salary we would be able to save some money, I would say that he should be voted out, but his position isn't voted on by the public, funny how that works.

Please remember these are the people you all voted for. How do you like their decisions now? And we do have to agree; no students are going to do very well with finding a job, or what about the ones that do community service for Bright Future, in hospitals or are involved in extracurricular activities?

I wish I could have started school at 9:30 AM when I was in HS. I was there at 7AM every morning and had afterschool activities to almost 5PM every day. It was like holding a full time job.

If you force kids to wait for their school bus in the dark before dawn, you should be required to install street lights at those bus stops. When the dead bodies start piling up you will realize the mistake you made in putting dollars before safety. Our son was killed at his school bus stop at 6:50am, Jan 12, 1995.

Don B wrote:

Congratulations, This is a part of the big tax cut on the amendment that was voted on for the exemption of homes. Lets not forget the bus drivers that loose their jobs and the teachers that will loose their jobs next year.
<snipped>
No Bus, Twelve Teachers, No social interaction, It'll save millions.

Not to mention the jobs of the people who won't be needed to build and maintain those buses. What's a few more jobs lost? What's a few more mortgage foreclosures? Central FL can handle it. Right?

Parents, you voted for Prop 1 and now it has come home to roost. Deal with it. You can't have it both ways. Lower taxes means lower school funding, despite what lying politicians promise.

Hopefully we have all learned from this little escapade. The next time a politician promises to lower your taxes and not cut services, vote "No" and vote against the turd next election!

This has to rank up there with the most stupid decisions in the history of the world. Not just Orange County. As a father of two students, former coach, club sponsor, and teacher this decision is CRIMINAL! Am I glad that I moved from winter park ---------YES !

Richard wrote:

Great, now pesky middle schoolers are going to be out earlier, so they can commit crimes and do drugs longer.
And now high schoolers who have after-school jobs won't be able to earn as much money.

At least the first post on the message board will be the dumbest of the day. Ignorance is bliss!!

4-3? At least it wasn't a landslide; at least 3 members of the SB are smart.

"We won't be able to, I think, solve all the problems," but most of them can and will be fixed, Blocker said.- That statement is absolute rocket science. I am SO glad we have such a smart, well-spoken man running one of the largest school systems in the state.

Why in the world would they even THINK about possibly making this temporary? It would absolutely be ridiculous to upheave the community all over again in 2 years.

Thank you so much board members I absolutely LOVE your choice!!!! I am for this proposal and I hope it works out. Waking up at 9:30 reminds me of the good old days in middle school. Thanks again and just to let you all know, not that you are reading, some people like this swap!

I bet you all posting now are elementary school parents that care SO much about how your kids will make it through middle school and you forget that the gotta go through high school too.

Orlando321 wrote:

Orange County School Board members are jokesters and easily decieved...i.e. they did none of their own research !!! and believed in flawed research. What research shows teen bodies need sleep between 11pm - 8am.?? All Humans and mamals do no matter what age!! What idiot came up with this "news"?? Who were the researchers, what are their credentials, and who were their sponsors?? Can the Timber Creek junior tell us the details of the "research" or was the Board misled about phony research?? Students holding early morning jobs??? Only the grocery stores open at 6 am. School board members are dumber than their students!!!

The research has been around for decades. Teen circadian clocks are different. You might be able to go to sleep at 9:00 p.m., but teens are wide awake until 11:00 or later. Therefore they need to sleep later. Ask teachers about kids who fall asleep in first or second period because they didn't get enough sleep because school starts @ 7 in the morning.

Everyone's comments on this are screwed up. No one cares about what is healthy for teens. They care about money first, parental convenience second, free daycare, and jobs. Sleep and the ability to get good grades should come first.

Orlando321 wrote:

Orange County School Board members are jokesters and easily decieved...i.e. they did none of their own research !!! and believed in flawed research. What research shows teen bodies need sleep between 11pm - 8am.?? All Humans and mamals do no matter what age!! What idiot came up with this "news"?? Who were the researchers, what are their credentials, and who were their sponsors?? Can the Timber Creek junior tell us the details of the "research" or was the Board misled about phony research?? Students holding early morning jobs??? Only the grocery stores open at 6 am. School board members are dumber than their students!!!

But they are not as dumb as some of the posters on this board.

If they are truly looking at saving money, I want to know who investigated changing the diesel buses to run on something other than gasoline? I have a diesel truck that has been running on pure vegetable oil for the past year. The cost of gasoline is one spur on this decision, so why aren't they trying MORE things to save money?

To add to that, did anyone consider the costs to the schools for added energy expenditures to run the A/C in the schools during the later and hotter afternoon hours? What about the need for lights for athletic practices (either before or after school)?

Don't get me wrong - I am happy to have a job next year. I am, however, very wary of the idea that my students will be better rested with a later start time. When questioned, most of them stated that they will simply stay up later and will still be tired when they arrive at school.