School Bell Schedules and High School Games

[djcarter1966]

Yeah it's always about the buses as far as scheduling school hours anywhere I have every been you have one set of buses for elementary, middle and high school so you have to stagger.

Here HS is 7:30 to 2:10. Not a big deal for home games because we have lights but some around here don't but since we can't even practice until March 21 it already past time change and does not get dark until 7ish. First game is usually 4 so we are OK; JV usually has their own field and we usually play JV and V at same time so we finish up about same time and if its away kids are back on bus and to school around 6 ( only one travel close to an hour the rest are less than 20 minutes) pretty sweet deal actually.

 

[sbmom19]

DDs school gets out at 3:35pm. Softball games start at 3:30-4:00 so they with warm-ups they get released anywhere from 2:00-2:30, ever earlier if travel is involved. She just makes sure that she schedules electives for her last hour...

 

[gdc03120]

Most schools in this area (upstate NY, Adirondacks area) run 8-3 or 8-2:30, with most varsity and JV softball games starting at 4:15pm/4:30pm.

 

[pjshaff]

Georgia (fall ball) - daughter's schedule is 8:20-3:30pm. Varsity games started at 5:30 or 5:55pm depending on who and where we played (in region). There were some games (for tourneys) that started at 4pm weekdays. JV games were before Varsity games and started at 4 or 4:30pm (not quite sure on those times - never went to JV games). No problems with late games as all the fields we played at have lights.

 

[wjdempkowski]

I am currently a High School teacher and Coach in Texas. We start at 8:45 and go to 4:05. Our games are at 5pm for JV and 7pm for Varsity. We do have earlier games where students will need to be released from school early and they are responsible for missed work. It is like this for all our sport schedules.

Why the change to start times for school. Most is run by the transportation department. But, there is a national study being conducted in various places about effective sleep and teenagers.
Pediatricians Say School Should Start Later For Teens' Health : Shots - Health News : NPR
https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/backgrounder-later-school-start-times

When we talk about student success and athlete performance, these become serious issues. In the education world, we are constantly trying to find the best methods, best techniques, and the best ways to educate our students. As coaches, we also seek the best ways to get peak performance out of our athletes. To me, this is one of those ways to help ensure success.

Proper sleep has huge health benefits. So despite the inconvenience of missing a class, or not having lights, the benefits of good sleep will far outway the minor inconveniences we face with scheduling. I feel that, at the end of the day, a good, long, healthy life is far more important than a State or District Title.

 

[Rambler34]

We are 0755-300 for the MS. High school is like 10 minutes behind that. Our buses leave the MS and head to the HS. Our JV girls in 7th and 8th grade catch a bus going to the HS for practice now that we are back in school.

Pretty much all of our varsity games are at 5 followed by the JV. We do have lights and I do not know of any around us that do not. Our softball/baseball complex is actually pretty dang nice and would hold it's own against a lot of colleges.

Our county built 4 new high schools to replace old ones after passing a $.01 sales tax. The new schools are amazing. My DD's are zoned for the same schools my wife and I went to. They have added a MS since I was there and we were 7th-12th at the high school. It was originally built in the 20's and added onto through the years. The new school added so much for the students from multiple gyms to an auditorium. The county actually really impressed me with all they added and the sports facilities are second to none.

 

[maksoftball]

Why the change to start times for school. Most is run by the transportation department. But, there is a national study being conducted in various places about effective sleep and teenagers.
Pediatricians Say School Should Start Later For Teens' Health : Shots - Health News : NPR
https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/backgrounder-later-school-start-times

When we talk about student success and athlete performance, these become serious issues. In the education world, we are constantly trying to find the best methods, best techniques, and the best ways to educate our students. As coaches, we also seek the best ways to get peak performance out of our athletes. To me, this is one of those ways to help ensure success.

Proper sleep has huge health benefits. So despite the inconvenience of missing a class, or not having lights, the benefits of good sleep will far outway the minor inconveniences we face with scheduling. I feel that, at the end of the day, a good, long, healthy life is far more important than a State or District Title.

I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, the times are not state mandated and are decided on district level. I never could understand why the high schoolers had to start so early...especially knowing that they are more likely than other grades to be up late studying and doing homework which shrinks their sleep time even more. There was one reason why our high schoolers got that time slot...and that was to get the high schoolers off the roads in the mornings before the younger kids were out either walking to school or waiting at the bus stop. That's what I heard anyway.

 

[Indiana]

Thanks so much everyone; we are such an amazing community and we have great dialogue. It sounds like lights are the answer, or at least a huge step in the right direction. Everyone's replies have been extremely helpful and I'm starting to understand what all is at stake.

 

[MsDinosaur]

DFP is such an amazing resource and we all come from diverse backgrounds all over the country. I love the sounding board that DFP provides.

Here's the background: our school district wants to change the high school day from 7:30-3 to 9-4:30.

My concern to the district has been athletic schedules. None of our area fields have lights, so I'm not sure how all that will work out aside from kids missing a lot of school and/or scheduling double headers on Saturdays.

What are your high school bell schedules, and when are high school games scheduled?

DD's school doesn't have lights, but it does have two side-by-side softball fields. That allows the varsity and JV games to start at the same time (4 pm). (It also gives the girls more room to practice.)

It's going to be strange next fall when DD isn't out there!

 

[SoCal_Dad]

Games normally start at 3:15 because most fields don't have lights. Our HS has 6 periods from 7:55 to 2:46. Players enroll in 6th period Athletics and have to be careful about 5th period since they will miss some class time for away games.