Back to school....

[Skippy918]

My kiddo does colorguard and we are shelling out $1500 for the season (marching and winterguard). This includes costumes, gear, practice outfits, equipment, competition entrance fees, food for events, external consultants to design and choreograph the shows. Fees would be much higher if we didn’t fundraise or have corporate sponsors.
Financial aid is available from the booster club for those that can’t afford the fees.

 

[barkley]

During the baby boom in the 1950s and 60s our school district was laid out with every student within one mile of an elementary school, two miles of a Middle School, and three miles of a High School. All were considered walkable distances, but back then bus service was offered. I have lost track of how many of those schools have closed in the last 25 years as enrollment nose dived. Several have been sold/leased to private schools. A couple torn down. So that grid no longer exists.

I grew up a couple of counties away from you but a world apart in school access-our jr. high was 18 miles away from our neighborhood and the high school was a bit over 20. the bus rides were made even longer by virtue of the law that a school bus could not make a turn across multiple lanes of traffic absent a stop light sooooooooooo we had to make a right turn out of our neighborhood and ride the bus down INTO A DIFFERENT COUNTY to get to a stop light where a u-turn could have us travel all the way back and on to school (hoping we were'nt stopped by any trains b/c we crossed a couple of set of tracks).

 

[tcufrog]

No bus service here. District I live in went with open enrollment about 25 years ago. Few students go to their neighborhood/assigned school. Because of that bus service went away. Impossible to come up with a bus route. There are 44 houses on my street, none of the children since open enrollment has attended the assigned (default school}. And best I can tell, other than siblings, no two students on my street attended the same elementary, Junior High, or High School. Our High schools all have "focuses". One is a Fundamental High School, another an IB, another a culinary, and another industrial arts. Only students who get bus service are Special Education students, and Federal Law requires bus service for them, at no cost.

DS14 will be attending a STEM and arts school of choice high school in a neighboring district that's much larger than our own. He was lucky to get a spot for orchestra via lottery and then tryouts. The school is small for the area, offers only advanced core classes, and has some amazing opportunities for their music students including a special lab for the 4 years of music theory they take, a music library, and opportunities to perform with the local opera and orchestra.

This district has more than 70,000 students. Most students attend their neighborhood high school although they can attend a different one if that school isn't full. They also have a wide variety of Schools of Choice options. If they get into a School of Choice they can ride a school bus to that school. My son doesn't qualify for bussing, however, since we don't live within the district. The district lines are messy where we live though so if we lived on the street behind us, we'd live in the district my younger son is attending for high school.

 

[barkley]

DS14 will be attending a STEM and arts school of choice high school in a neighboring district that's much larger than our own. He was lucky to get a spot for orchestra via lottery and then tryouts. The school is small for the area, offers only advanced core classes, and has some amazing opportunities for their music students including a special lab for the 4 years of music theory they take, a music library, and opportunities to perform with the local opera and orchestra.

This district has more than 70,000 students. Most students attend their neighborhood high school although they can attend a different one if that school isn't full. They also have a wide variety of Schools of Choice options. If they get into a School of Choice they can ride a school bus to that school. My son doesn't qualify for bussing, however, since we don't live within the district. The district lines are messy where we live though so if we lived on the street behind us, we'd live in the district my younger son is attending for high school.

we have wonky district lines as well and also live right near the borders for 2 (our bus stop has both district's busses utilizing it). when we first moved here the 2 closest districts were pretty open to permitting students to attend outside their boundaries but then something happened (I don't know what) and an end was largely put to it. I always wondered how it worked with student funding when these were were happening more frequently. one district (not ours) had much higher taxes for schools voted in by their residents so did some kind of funding move from that district to ours if they attended? what happened if a bunch of kids from our district went to the other and effectivly 'blocked' new kids living in that district from spaces there such that they got shuffled to our district? did their parents get a tax break?

I can see the good and the bad with school choice but boy oh boy what a nightmare it caused in the neighborhood i used to live in. it was built in the late 90's (last homes completed around 2002) and included a lovely brand spanking new neighborhood school. the surrounding neighborhood was actualy designed to facilitate kids walking to school, really nice. the problem came in when the other residents in the city exercised their school choice before all the houses were completed. you had people who bought into these homes that they were paying a special bond on for something like 15 years that the city required in order to fund the school's construction but their kids could'nt get a spot in the school. those lovely walking paths for neighborhood kids to use to get to/from? rarely used because the bulk of students were being driven in by parents from other neighborhoods (and oooooooh the number of police cars to direct traffic and stop first fights b/c homeowners woke to find their driveways blocked/some sidewalks parked on by parents who did'nt want to deal with the many block long drop off/pick up lines).

 

[tvguy]

. If they get into a School of Choice they can ride a school bus to that school.

Wow, the logistics of planning and paying for school bus routes to transport students from the same area to different schools must be a challenge. That is why bus service went away here with open enrollment. Best I can recall, other than siblings, no two students on my street went to the same high school. Six different high schools in six different directions. Kids would have to catch the bus a long time before school started to get there on time. I was in High School in 1973 when President Nixon made Daylight savings time permanent to save energy. Parents were livid because in the winter kids were out in the dark in the morning waiting for their school bus.

 

[tvguy]

I grew up a couple of counties away from you but a world apart in school access-our jr. high was 18 miles away from our neighborhood and the high school was a bit over 20. the bus rides were made even longer by virtue of the law that a school bus could not make a turn across multiple lanes of traffic absent a stop light sooooooooooo we had to make a right turn out of our neighborhood and ride the bus down INTO A DIFFERENT COUNTY to get to a stop light where a u-turn could have us travel all the way back and on to school (hoping we were'nt stopped by any trains b/c we crossed a couple of set of tracks).

That wouldn't have been El Dorado or Placer County? When I was working I used to get calls from them at 6 am in the winter asking us to announce on the news that buses were running on the "alternate" schedule if there was ice on the roads. There were some roads the buses would not go on if there was a chance of ice on the road, so parents would have to drive their kids to alternate bus stops on roads that did not have ice issues. Snow days went away after the pandemic. Since every student now has a school supplied device, they would just make it a remote learning day. They have some fancy name for it that I can recall for sure. (Asynchronous?)

 

[barkley]

Parents were livid because in the winter kids were out in the dark in the morning waiting for their school bus.

we are the first stop for pick-ups and the last stop for drop-offs. kids here go to and arrive home from school in the dark (7am pick up/4:10 drop off).

 

[Turn the Page]

we have wonky district lines as well and also live right near the borders for 2 (our bus stop has both district's busses utilizing it). when we first moved here the 2 closest districts were pretty open to permitting students to attend outside their boundaries but then something happened (I don't know what) and an end was largely put to it. I always wondered how it worked with student funding when these were were happening more frequently. one district (not ours) had much higher taxes for schools voted in by their residents so did some kind of funding move from that district to ours if they attended? what happened if a bunch of kids from our district went to the other and effectivly 'blocked' new kids living in that district from spaces there such that they got shuffled to our district? did their parents get a tax break?

I live in a rural area. Only one high school per town for hours in any direction. The school districts students live in get funding based on the property tax rates in that district. If the student attends a different school the funding is passed on to the other school. One district with higher tax rates has started charging school of choice students $5000 in tuition to combat the funding discrepancy.

 

[tvguy]

we are the first stop for pick-ups and the last stop for drop-offs. kids here go to and arrive home from school in the dark (7am pick up/4:10 drop off).

As you may know California law beginning in 2022 pushed back the start time of school because kids weren't getting enough sleep.

 

[barkley]

I live in a rural area. Only one high school per town for hours in any direction. The school districts students live in get funding based on the property tax rates in that district. If the student attends a different school the funding is passed on to the other school. One district with higher tax rates has started charging school of choice students $5000 in tuition to combat the funding discrepancy.

interesting. we are rural as well and the whole property tax issue comes up here as well. I think that was one of the factors that went into the one higher taxed district near us shutting down any out of district students attending (that and there's been such a building boom in some of the small cities they cover in their 381 square mile district that they are beyond lacking in schools-they really need to make the much larger city they cover create it's own district).

 

[barkley]

As you may know California law beginning in 2022 pushed back the start time of school because kids weren't getting enough sleep.

yup, I was talking to bff who started back to work at her district there a week or so ago. depending on special ed needs she gets assigned to multiple schools and she was hoping NOT to have any high school days this year b/c they start latest in her district which means her work day ends later. she was still waiting to see what the new stats shows b/c I guess the pandemic did a number on kids needing speech therapy and where many issues used to be addressed and (ideally) resolved in elementary-they have seen a huge uptick in older students needing services since in person classes resumed.

 

[tvguy]

yup, I was talking to bff who started back to work at her district there a week or so ago. depending on special ed needs she gets assigned to multiple schools and she was hoping NOT to have any high school days this year b/c they start latest in her district which means her work day ends later. she was still waiting to see what the new stats shows b/c I guess the pandemic did a number on kids needing speech therapy and where many issues used to be addressed and (ideally) resolved in elementary-they have seen a huge uptick in older students needing services since in person classes resumed.

I could never been a teacher. They work in an environment of difficult rules, difficult administrators, difficult students and the biggie, difficult parents.
Although that probably could be said of a lot of jobs including mine. And teaching is the number one second career for TV news people. Most of them with school aged children where have a work schedule that meshes with the school schedule is huge. Hard to cover child care for the JUST the 5 full weeks kids have off within the school year when your job only give 2-4 weeks vacation, and legal holidays are regular work days. Through in 7-9 weeks of time off in summer.....and that we live in an area where pay is good, it's a choice that makes sense.

 

[barkley]

I could never been a teacher. They work in an environment of difficult rules, difficult administrators, difficult students and the biggie, difficult parents.
Although that probably could be said of a lot of jobs including mine. And teaching is the number one second career for TV news people. Most of them with school aged children where have a work schedule that meshes with the school schedule is huge. Hard to cover child care for the JUST the 5 full weeks kids have off within the school year when your job only give 2-4 weeks vacation, and legal holidays are regular work days. Through in 7-9 weeks of time off in summer.....and that we live in an area where pay is good, it's a choice that makes sense.

bff works in speech therapy and she says so much has changed post pandemic with districts hiring out to remote staff all over the u.s. that all seem to have their own way of doing things despite the school district having their own procedures/mandates. lots of retirements, lots of turnover, lots of time at the begining of the academic year trying to break in new remote staff.......she is counting down to retirement. if she did'nt need about 2 months of health insurance coverage to cover her between the end of the 2025/2026 academic year and when she hits 65 and can get Medicare I think this would be her graduation into retirement.

 

[tvguy]

bff works in speech therapy and she says so much has changed post pandemic with districts hiring out to remote staff all over the u.s. that all seem to have their own way of doing things despite the school district having their own procedures/mandates. lots of retirements, lots of turnover, lots of time at the begining of the academic year trying to break in new remote staff.......she is counting down to retirement. if she did'nt need about 2 months of health insurance coverage to cover her between the end of the 2025/2026 academic year and when she hits 65 and can get Medicare I think this would be her graduation into retirement.

I remember stories out of CALSTRS (California State Teachers' Retirement System) before the pandemic that they were bracing for an influx of retirements in the early 2020s because there was a surge of new teacher hires in the early 1990s who would be hitting their 30 years service anniversary and could retire. They weren't counting on some of the districts offering to buy 5 years retirement credit for their employees to retire after 25 years. I get it, you replace a $126,000 a year top scale teacher with someone just out of college at $60,000 a year. Buying a top scale teacher five years service credit would cost about $136,000, but they were saving $66,000 a year in salary so in just over 2 years they would break even and be saving money.
And then the pandemic caused fewer people than expected to keep working past the 30 year mark and some people too early retirement.

​

 

[RangerPooh]

curious-what are all the fees parents pay in public schools?

We only have two in high school as our other two are in college.

For our sophomore we’re paying $500 in fees this week which includes his cross country season. We’ll pay another $300+ in December for lacrosse. Plus fees for ACT in the spring. Plus this winter there’ll be a parking permit for school.

For our freshman we’ll be paying around $600 once football fees are posted. We also have to spend another $125 for his orchestra tux. Plus another $300+ in the spring for lacrosse.

These fees do not include any team gear such as equipment or non uniform team shirts/sweaters. Nor do they include orchestra related expenses such as restringing bows, cello, or violin, or bridge replacements for cello, which seems to need replacing every other year at $125. Lunch is not included, so that’s another fee. Then there’s the cost of school supplies.

When my oldest did colorguard I was paying $1200 for matching and winter guard seasons.

 

[RangerPooh]

I was in High School in 1973 when President Nixon made Daylight savings time permanent to save energy. Parents were livid because in the winter kids were out in the dark in the morning waiting for their school bus.

Our girls attended high school in the next town over (we didn’t have a high school yet), and it started at 7am. Days when they took the bus they were at the bus stop around 5:45am. When they drove they were out the door at 6am. Dark most of the year. Our boys attended high school our new high school with an 8am start time.

In the 90s when I was in jr and high school my bus stop pick up time was 6:40am, it was a dark pick up time half the year.

 

[tvguy]

Our girls attended high school in the next town over (we didn’t have a high school yet), and it started at 7am. Days when they took the bus they were at the bus stop around 5:45am. When they drove they were out the door at 6am. Dark most of the year. Our boys attended high school our new high school with an 8am start time.

In the 90s when I was in jr and high school my bus stop pick up time was 6:40am, it was a dark pick up time half the year.

The law in California since 2022 is that High School can't start before 8:30 am.

 

[barkley]

The law in California since 2022 is that High School can't start before 8:30 am.

so are they also prohibited from offering an optional 'zero period' as well?

 

[tvguy]

so are they also prohibited from offering an optional 'zero period' as well?

I don't know. Checking school websites, some do have zero period, some do not. So I guess so.

 

[Skippy918]

Our girls attended high school in the next town over (we didn’t have a high school yet), and it started at 7am. Days when they took the bus they were at the bus stop around 5:45am. When they drove they were out the door at 6am. Dark most of the year. Our boys attended high school our new high school with an 8am start time.

In the 90s when I was in jr and high school my bus stop pick up time was 6:40am, it was a dark pick up time half the year.

That’s early for the bus!
Our first bell is at 8:15. We live a mile away. My oldest leaves at 8. He bikes.