I am writing to you regarding the school start change times. My high schooler will get less sleep, not more. He is part of a swim team that will only be able to practice in the mornings before school. After school, the younger kids will swim, then the lesson program begins. Many of the teenagers teach the younger kids in this program and will need to stick around two hours before working, then straggle home after it ends at 6:30 p.m. The day always ended at 6:30, just after they already practiced.
There are two outcome scenarios: The kids will get burned out and quit the swim team at the early hours and just work, or they will reduce or quit their teaching jobs and there won’t be enough instructors. Before you think, “Well, good, school isn’t about sports,” remember that education does encompass extracurricular activities because that makes well-rounded youth. More discouraging is that while swimming was actually once required to graduate from high school (swim test and all), it will now be relegated to the morning hours before school.
How ironic that these kids will actually get less sleep because of this plan. They are teaching the future swim athletes of tomorrow and should not have to stay on campus for 12 hours per day. I don’t see the future of Anchorage aquatics surviving this, although this is likely not the only sport to be affected negatively. Please name one other sport, though, that can teach younger kids a life-saving and lifelong skill.
It is sad that so many of our youth will wander away from either participating in activities like this or teaching them. Aside from any of this, there are scores of families who still have no idea how they will get their kids to school and still have a job. I encourage you all to go to the ASD website, click on the School Board page, and print the list of members’ names. Bring this list with you the next time you vote (and vote accordingly).
— Anne O’Brien
Anchorage
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