All-day school schedules

hiddendriver34 said:Is it just you, or do some people literally just plug their ears and sing "la la la" whenever someone tries to make a point? Honestly, no biggie, but I’d rather know now so we don't waste our breath typing away at nothing. 👍

So, are you really grinding 8 to 9 hours a day? And if so, where are your kids while you're busy doing that?

jadetinker85 said:I mean, have you ever actually been a kid? Seriously—what child in elementary school wants to be stuck in a classroom from 8:00 AM until 3:30 PM?

I hear that. But my little one is just starting first grade—once he gets his homework finished, he’s pretty much free to do whatever he wants. There isn't really any heavy studying involved at this stage.

Paul Davis2 said:So, are you really grinding 8 to 9 hours a day? And if so, where are your kids while you're busy doing that?

Look, I totally get wanting to make sure your kids are looked after while you're at work. Nobody wants their little ones sitting home alone. But what I just can't wrap my head around is why you're backing this proposal that every single child has to be supervised—basically locked up in school—regardless of whether the parents or even the kids actually want them there. Seriously, wouldn't offering free after-school programs be a much better solution for everyone involved?

Carl Bishop2 said:I hear that. But my little one is just starting first grade—once he gets his homework finished, he’s pretty much free to do whatever he wants. There isn't really any heavy studying involved at this stage.

Look, after-school programs for elementary kids make sense. 🙂
Personally, I didn't start staying late at school until the end of first grade, usually right after lunch. 😳

hiddendriver34 said:Look, I totally get wanting to make sure your kids are looked after while you're at work. Nobody wants their little ones sitting home alone. But what I just can't wrap my head around is why you're backing this proposal that every single child has to be supervised—basically locked up in school—regardless of whether the parents or even the kids actually want them there. Seriously, wouldn't offering free after-school programs be a much better solution for everyone involved?

Locked up? Prisoners? A punishment?
My kid is on a split schedule—morning shifts mostly, but then they have elective computer science in the afternoon during seventh grade, and PE too. So, they're at school from 8:00 to 1:30 most days, plus those afternoon classes twice a week—meaning four days out of five they're stuck in that cycle.
Who exactly is trying to "lock up" my child? Who are these villains looking to wreck a happy childhood?
And honestly, when they're in school during the afternoons, I don't even see them half the time. I just catch them for a kiss before bed.
There’s no hot meal provided, the school day is one of the shortest in Europe, and their test scores are lagging behind global averages. Plus, they're being taught by overworked teachers who feel underpaid and just aren't all about the job.
The system shouldn't be messed with.

Oh boy, here we go again with the "blah blah blah." 🤦 Look, nobody’s saying the system shouldn't be overhauled. But demanding that every single kid has to be stuck in a classroom for at least 7.5 hours of daylight just because that’s what you personally want for your child is... well, it's pretty heartless, if you ask me.

E: What kind of schedule ends at 1:30 PM?

hiddendriver34 said:Oh boy, here we go again with the "blah blah blah." 🤦 Look, nobody’s saying the system shouldn't be overhauled. But demanding that every single kid has to be stuck in a classroom for at least 7.5 hours of daylight just because that’s what you personally want for your child is... well, it's pretty heartless, if you ask me.

E: What kind of schedule ends at 1:30 PM?

The sixth period—if you count both small and large breaks—not to mention pre-periods and post-periods. Then there's tutoring, extra credit, and electives. It’s morning, it’s afternoon, and usually without access to a gym or even a free hot meal.
Let's get real here: kids today are basically living at school. They deal with rotating shifts and the obligation to show up for the opposite session whenever the schedule flips.

In my neck of the woods, kids get to follow a split-shift schedule, which actually gives them a ton of freedom and plenty of downtime. Honestly, I’m just relieved that even the younger ones will be heading into high school by the time this nightmare—if they actually push through with this blunt-force implementation—becomes the norm.

hiddendriver34 said:In my neck of the woods, kids get to follow a split-shift schedule, which actually gives them a ton of freedom and plenty of downtime. Honestly, I’m just relieved that even the younger ones will be heading into high school by the time this nightmare—if they actually push through with this blunt-force implementation—becomes the norm.

Glad you're feeling all empathetic and cozy in your little bubble.

Paul Davis2 said:The sixth period—if you count both small and large breaks—not to mention pre-periods and post-periods. Then there's tutoring, extra credit, and electives. It’s morning, it’s afternoon, and usually without access to a gym or even a free hot meal.
Let's get real here: kids today are basically living at school. They deal with rotating shifts and the obligation to show up for the opposite session whenever the schedule flips.

What do your kids actually think about the idea of full-day schooling?

Paul Davis2, how exactly do you think your kids' school is going to handle doubling the student count in a single shift if they switch to full-day classes? It was already a total mess trying to squeeze gym classes in when they were on the opposite schedule. Are you expecting them to just magically expand the building?...

The sixth period runs until about 1:05 PM. Electives, supplements, or extra credits aren't mandatory. That’s kind of the whole point—if you don't want to take them, you don't have to. My kid never had to deal with afternoon classes back in elementary school. They'd be home by 1:30, and by the time they would've been getting out now, around 3:00 or 3:30, they'd already eaten and chilled out for a bit. 🤷

stormymarlin22 said:The sixth period runs until about 1:05 PM. Electives, supplements, or extra credits aren't mandatory. That’s kind of the whole point—if you don't want to take them, you don't have to. My kid never had to deal with afternoon classes back in elementary school. They'd be home by 1:30, and by the time they would've been getting out now, around 3:00 or 3:30, they'd already eaten and chilled out for a bit. 🤷

In my town, your kid would actually get reprimanded for skipping gym, and let's face it—nobody is skipping computer science in the 21st century. Honestly, it sounds like you hit the jackpot having such a great school with an on-site gym and a schedule that fits perfectly. You're lucky. And clearly, they managed to eat, too.

stormymarlin22 said:The sixth period runs until about 1:05 PM. Electives, supplements, or extra credits aren't mandatory. That’s kind of the whole point—if you don't want to take them, you don't have to. My kid never had to deal with afternoon classes back in elementary school. They'd be home by 1:30, and by the time they would've been getting out now, around 3:00 or 3:30, they'd already eaten and chilled out for a bit. 🤷

It just doesn't work like that. You'll always have those parents who insist your kid should be stuck in a classroom until 3:30 just because their own kid is. 😁

Paul Davis2 said:In my town, your kid would actually get reprimanded for skipping gym, and let's face it—nobody is skipping computer science in the 21st century. Honestly, it sounds like you hit the jackpot having such a great school with an on-site gym and a schedule that fits perfectly. You're lucky. And clearly, they managed to eat, too.

Gym was on the regular schedule here. And yeah, if you don't even have a gym on campus, that's a huge issue, but I guess that's something the district needs to fix rather than expecting an all-day school program to solve it. My kid is finishing up at a prep school, so they figured out computer skills just fine without needing those electives back in middle school.

So the plan is to roll out computer science in every elementary school across the country starting in 2027, right?

I guess it's just way easier for them to claim they'll just pack 35 kids into every classroom and deal with fewer classrooms overall, rather than actually doing the work to build or expand school buildings.

And then you’re actually supposed to believe that thirty-five kids crammed into one single classroom can just... "learn" things at school—you know, absorb everything perfectly so they don't have a lick of homework to do when they get home. 🤣

Paul Davis2 said:The sixth period—if you count both small and large breaks—not to mention pre-periods and post-periods. Then there's tutoring, extra credit, and electives. It’s morning, it’s afternoon, and usually without access to a gym or even a free hot meal.
Let's get real here: kids today are basically living at school. They deal with rotating shifts and the obligation to show up for the opposite session whenever the schedule flips.

I couldn't agree more. I honestly don't understand this constant exaggeration and unnecessary drama. Students currently on the morning shift are stuck in school every single day from 8:00 AM until 2:00 PM without a proper lunch or any significant breaks beyond a measly 15-minute recess. Teachers don't have the bandwidth to manage extra tutoring or after-school programs either, so we just coordinate and swap schedules ourselves (for instance, if students have six periods one day, we shuffle the seventh period around). This way is actually better for both the kids and us.

As for the public consultation process, I was expecting much higher engagement. Out of 60,000 people working in the American education system—including 30,000 in elementary schools—we barely saw 2,000 responses. And when you take a closer look, it’s mostly the same handful of people submitting multiple entries, which means probably fewer than 1,000 unique individuals actually participated. It's the same old story: a loud minority makes all the noise while the silent majority just accepts things as they are.

shadowtiger0 said:I can only speak from what I've seen firsthand—Sweden is seriously struggling right now when it comes to finding professors of any kind.
The UK is fantastic if you’re looking at private schools, but those standard public institutions? They just aren't all that appealing to someone holding a Master's degree.

But let’s be real here—I haven't experienced a single place where being a professor is treated like some prestigious, highly respected profession, unfortunately.

Maybe it's different in Finland, but I can't really go by what I read in the news; I haven't actually been there myself.

It's a bit off-topic, but just to answer you. 🙂

In Asia, especially in China. Teachers and professors are actually quite highly valued there. They are among the only ones who receive a full 100% salary pension. Even above the military, since soldiers get 80%. But they truly value knowledge and education there. Granted, they haven't stripped professors of all their disciplinary authority either. But that's a whole different world. Also, for the first two grades, it's 4 hours of PE, then 3 hours after that. And now they're introducing mandatory daily PE for all 9 grades in compulsory school.

https://english.news.cn/20220525/3de...51fcd7a/c.html

Back to the main point. Both parents and teachers would probably complain less if schools actually had decent infrastructure to start with, and if they were paid properly—or at least given total freedom once they finish their schoolwork at home. Right now, it just looks like everything is slapped together hastily just so they can spend federal funds and claim they're doing something.

rowdypanther12 said:kind of like a fox 😂

"Go Fuchs yourself" would actually make a great swear word 🤣

I haven't caught up on everything yet, but I did catch a glimpse of little Ivica.

Look, to make it easy for you to understand: in special education, we aren't dealing with some kind of elite, specialized faculty. We’re just regular teachers with incredibly poor training. We don't even have speech therapists, psychologists, or developmental specialists on staff; we're lucky if we even get a social worker. We handle this as an add-on to our regular curriculum and combined classes. For most of us, it's just pure survival mode. I was lucky enough to land a supervision program so I don't completely lose my mind, along with some psychiatric training and support.

Little Ivica doesn't scream anymore; now he just has these fits of laughter, delusions, tics... honestly, little Ivica doesn't even exist in a classroom alongside four other kids with their own intense struggles, especially when the parents REFUSE to acknowledge it. They reject having a one-on-one aide. Before they even realized how serious their child's condition actually was, they were busy blaming the school for everything. He once hit me in the head with his fist because I stopped him from jumping off a landing—using a grip I learned while working with kids with severe intellectual disabilities—and then he claimed I provoked him. That was it.

How am I supposed to teach them until they're fifteen? I can barely get them to follow a basic structure or respect boundaries. I struggle just to get some of them to speak at all due to specific types of autism. Now, we're expected to keep them in these programs until they're fifteen? Seventeen?

Just recently, one student tried to jump out of a second-story window. Ivica jumped right through a first-floor window and bolted into the woods.

For God's sake, the other students in the mainstream classes are watching all of this happen. And we work with regular classrooms too. Is anyone even asking how a pay increase for extra hours will help offset the toll this takes on me?