I chose other. Our class schedules were set up similarly to college classes, where each day starts and ends depending on the classes you’re taking. Usually, I had anywhere from 2-4 days a week where classes started at 7:30. I had some semesters were classes started at 9 or 10.
Because usually honors, electives, or college courses (where I had to go to the college campus and take class with college students) were offered in the late afternoon, I usually was out at 3:30, sometimes 4pm, sometimes even 5pm. Fridays I was usually out by 2 or 3pm, and some semesters in junior and senior year I was out by noon.
OTOH, sometimes my “free periods” gave me a two hour lunch break, or a free hour after coming to school at 7:30am.
Elementary lets out first IIRC, somewhere around 2:30. The high school bell rings at 3:20. There aren’t nearly as many high school bus riders since most of them drive.
All the schools were meant to fit into the 8:00 to 3:00 slot for the day. The Lowest grades unloaded buses first and started at 8:00. The Junior High 8:15. The High School 8:30. Pick up was in the same order, so the day was done for High School at 3:30. Everything was organized for the buses. Kids were on buses for 2 hours each way if they were at the end of the line. Almost every kid that lived in town had to walk or ride bikes to school so the school hours covered the range were 8:00 to 3:30 that the was up for their walking. Having light during the hours kids walked was the biggest reason for the school hours being where they were, or the kids that walked across town would have had to walk in the dark at some point during the winter.
In high school I started at 9:00, but I had to get up between 6:00AM and 6:30AM to catch the bus on time. In retrospect it’s obvious that I was chronically sleep deprived in high school. My bus rides to and from school were physically painful for me because we drove into the sun both ways. Just having the light of the sun in my eyes hurt. Approximately once a month, I would come home after school and immediately collapse into bed, not getting up until the next morning.
My high school ended the day at 2:15, as did my middle school. The elementary schools let out at 3:00. I’m a little curious - how many classes did you have a day if you could start at 8:55 and end at 2:20? My high school ran on a block scheduling system, so we had four 85-minute classes plus a 30-minute lunch and the time between classes. I don’t think they could’ve fit it all in if there was an hour less, even with a 0 period option (which we did not have).
Exactly. The consequence of the schedules not adjusting these schedules is chronic over tiredness. Chronic over tiredness can lead to poor concentration, academic performance, depression etc.
School started at 7 and got out at 2:10. Practice started at 3 and I was home for dinner by 6. I can’t imagine starting school later and getting home from practice even later then that and then doing homework. I definitely would have been a student complaining about school starting later.
I know- that’s what I think about… my son doesn’t get home from golf practice until 7-7:30 some nights. But he’s so exhausted in the mornings, so I"m very conflicted.
Ours technically started at 8:25 AM, and ended at 3:15PM, but I was in two classes that started earlier than that: in the fall, band started at 8:00, as marching and playing takes more practice together than sitting and playing, and Chamber Singers, an advanced choir, started at 7:15 year-round. (During marching band season, I would leave five minutes early, and arrive at band five minutes late.)
Still, I went with what most people at my high school did, and thus said classes started at 8:30. It probably would have been earlier if our campus was bigger, but four minutes between classes was sufficient as long as you avoided your locker on the longer trips to the music/agri wing.