Where I live, the district passed a law a few years ago that there couldn’t be any scheduled bus stops earlier than 6:00AM, because there were kids with pickups even earlier than that.
When I was in high school, I think school started around 7:20 or so…but then again, we got out around 2:20. When there have been movements to have elementary start earlier and high schools start later (to help match up with those circadian rhythms) it’s been an issue because the high schoolers are often the after-care providers for younger siblings, so they need to get out of school before their siblings do.
Ya’ll are giving me PTSD ; ). My D’s HS started at 7:45 am. 35 miles from home. 9th/10th and 1/2 of 11th grade she rode the bus. We had to drive a few miles to the bus stop and were leaving the house at 6:15 am. I remember jumping for joy when she was finally able to drive herself. She was still out the door no later than 6:45 but at least we weren’t waking up at 5 something (psychologically that just felt better ; ) and I didn’t have to get dressed myself.
I will say, when she had 8 am classes as a college freshman, a 5 minute walk from her dorm, she didn’t blink an eye and was excited that she didn’t have to get up early. It made scheduling much easier not worrying about starting classes later.
I think this is part of the reason that CA changed a few years back, the earliest high school starts is now 8:30am. Unfortunately when this happened our high school lost its bus service - the town had had one bus that did one round for middle and one round for high school. The later start time meant it couldn’t do both, and as middle school kids are more dependent /many high schoolers drive, they dropped the high school route. Of course, my kid still doesn’t drive so it’s a pain for us. There is a public bus that does school routes so that’s an option for many, but it doesn’t stop walking distance from us.
Zero period is limited to science labs, music and performing arts, athletics, maybe a few other things. We also have a 7th period (starts at 3:39) that is technically outside the school day and is used for science labs, music and performing arts, athletics, and tech classes like robotics etc.
My D’s school had a 0 period too, and an after school 9th period.
0 period was used for test prep. The only time D went regularly for 0 period was for the school PSAT prep class and it was only once/week for one semester so not too horrible.
9th period was for “pilot” classes. She was asked to pilot an engineering III class as a junior so also had a semester of that. Made for very long days if there was overlap with 0 period.
Her school had longer periods built into the middle part of the day for lab classes. (Essentially by having shortened lunch periods).
Interesting. Calling it zero period just sounds like blatantly trying to cheat. They should just call it first period. Especially if kids are doing science! Umm, that is the heartland of school. They are not fooling anybody with that “zero” name.
State: We’ve decided before 8:30 is too early for teenagers to learn, classes must not start before then.
Them: Right, classes will start after that, but science labs will be in zero period that starts at 7:30. That’s not really class, and it’s not even a numbered period that counts, so no problem.
Can’t speak for other schools but our school wasn’t going to shorten or take away other classes to fit in a music elective for 15-20 students. The block schedule means long periods for other classes so easily time for labs etc. I think there would be an uproar if they tried to put an academic class in zero period.
My D26 is a student representative at her school for implementing a new bell schedule and boy it has been very controversial, they needed to add an additional class period to the day, they already start at 7:48 one of the options was a earlier start - no one was in favor of that especially her , they have been working on this for two years and are close to resolution. She actually has to miss all classes tomorrow to sit in on meetings while it is being presented to the teachers union etc.
We’ve never had bus service, but that’s because our kids have attended charter schools (which have no bus service). For a few years, the commute one way to school was 45 min in the car. In recent years, it’s ‘only’ been ~ 35 min.
For 8th-11th grade, the day started at 7:30 am if you had an elective during 1st period of the day (some electives were during 1st period of the school day, others were in last period). For 11th grade, D26 took 2 electives so her school day was 7:30 am - 3:40 pm with a 1-period study hall somewhere in the middle of that. Had to leave the house by 6:40 am in order to get kid to school on time with enough time for her to get to her locker, put her stuff away, and get to class.
this year, her school day starts at 9:20 am. She drives herself now, so she leaves the house at 8:30 am. The route requires driving on rush hour freeways.
It’s because 1st through 6th periods are required. Zero and 7th are technically optional (except for science lab if you are taking a lab science).
Years ago, many Bay Area schools allowed academic classes in these time slots. Even though technically optional, you can imagine how this might feel required for ambitious students trying to get ahead of their classmates (how many APs can you pack into a day?) especially in the high pressure schools on the peninsula / south bay.
“Leadership” is the only class offered at Zero period for our Bay Area high school. But most kids have 1-7 periods, starting at 8:30 each day except Friday, which begins at 9. The get out around 3:20-3:40 depending on block days and their tutorial/study periods.
I hear you and appreciate the explanation. As an outsider to such practices, science labs in zero period still sounds super sketchy to me. It seems to literally go against the point of mandating no start before 8:30 - for the best learning of teens - to put science labs of all things there.
Since we don’t have a block schedule, there is only room for 6 classes in the regular day, allowing most students in grades 9-11 to have 1 elective. (IB students don’t even get an elective in some grades.) The school can’t schedule science classes in a double period, because then students would have only 5 classes and no electives. So the lab component has to be scheduled in zero or 7th. (Not all science classes have a lab.)
I wish my girls’ school had a 0 period – parents and students have been lobbying for it forever. Reason being, it’s a religious private school, so 6 semesters of Bible are required in high school.
Unfortunately that leaves little room to take AP classes and also everything else students want – especially for kids like mine, who are both artsy and techy. She has managed to take symphonic band every year (for my older one, it was chorus) – plus a couple of STEM classes, but she hasn’t had any room for art classes. And marching band and theatre has meant that she doesn’t have any time after school to take art classes outside of school, either. At the risk of sounding dramatic, it has changed the trajectory of what she might have liked to pursue in college.
She would have LOVED to take art offered in a 0 period. Or, another couple of similar religious schools in our area allow Bible to be taken in that hour, to free up slots for other classes the kids want.
We do not have a block schedule- our day is 9 mods (periods). The day begins at 8:15 and ends at 3:20. There are different day number but they only relate to which study hall the students attend and in which mods teachers have office hours.
We actually had a big change in the way schedules are done this year. It used to be that study hall was always 9th mod and that was also when activities, clubs, and extra music classes would take place. Seniors could take that mod off and leave right after 8th (senior priv). This year, they gave seniors the option of 1st or 9th mod priv and now schedule the study halls at any point during the day. Every two weeks, the classes are shortened and there are two activity periods for clubs and music.
Science classes with labs are always scheduled before a lunch period. If students need time to complete a lab, they do it during lunch. I honestly don’t know how they get away with that.
Electives can be any mod during the day. Students fill out course requests the March before the next school year and classes are scheduled with seniors getting preference, then juniors, etc. D26 has had good luck, but I’ve heard of some kids not getting any of their requests or alternates!
Okay, it’s nutty that it’s under 10 minutes on a bike but 30 minutes in a car! But I get it because traffic is like that where we are, too.
We’re also about a mile from our public school where my son attended. But the “nature” aspect of your story is not the same, LOL – between us and the school, he could cut through the parking lot of a ginormous church complex that we call Six Flags over Jesus, and then the adjacent shopping center that has a big Regal movie theater, lots of restaurants, Starbucks, Cold Stone, etc. Across the street is a Target, Home Depot, Publix, Hobby Lobby and Whole Foods.
There’s so much variation from 1 school to another! I think it’s interesting.
At our school, clubs meet after end of the school day. So the clubs meet starting at 3:45 pm (usually go to 4:45 pm) on whatever their designated meet day of the week it is. Some meet weekly, others are every other week. Something like NHS is once a month.
At our high school, most people don’t have a study hall. The non-elective classes are between period 1 and whatever is the last period before the afternoon elective period and there’s a lunch period in 1 of those. Not everybody has lunch during the same period.
Elective classes are then in 0 period (starts at 7:30 am) or the last period of the day (last period ends at 3:45 pm). If you don’t have an elective that ends at 3:45 pm, then your day is done at 2:45 pm.
Stuff like band/orchestra is an elective. So if you also want to take another elective, especially if you want to also take an AP elective at some point, then you end up needing to have a 0 period elective + your end-of-the-day period elective. Add on a club or sport that meets/practices 3:45-4:45 and you could easily be at school from 7:30 am - 4:45 pm some days.
During 11th grade, D26 took a morning & afternoon elective and since she didn’t have an AP science class (just had the 1 honors science class), she ended up with a study hall period. D24 was similar. Our school requires 10th and 11th graders to take 2 science classes/yr - 1 is an honors science & the other is an AP in whichever honors science subject you took the previous year…The exception to that rule is if you opt to not take an AP science class in 11th grade, you have to take an AP elective instead.
12th grade, by comparison, is a breeze because 12th graders have only 5 classes and their day is from 9:20 am - 2:45 pm. A lot of 12th graders will TA for 1 of the teachers a few days a week in the 2:45-3:45 pm hour. And you’re all done with all AP classes by the end of 11th grade. Students do have the option to graduate early if they want at end of 11th grade because by that point, they’ve fulfilled the state requirements for high school graduation. But most students stay for 12th grade because of the lighter schedule (in person classes Aug-early Feb, then nothing in person after that unless you do a senior project), the college counseling class in 12th grade, and senior activities (senior trip, prom, optional senior project Feb-May).
, they have been working on this for two years and are close to resolution. She actually has to miss all classes tomorrow to sit in on meetings while it is being presented to the teachers union etc.