Increasingly irritated: What time does your preschool start?

crystalgirl

I'm growing increasingly irritated with DS1's preschool. Last night we sent out two very thoughtful emails -- one to his lead teacher and one to his principal. The message to the prinicipal was primarily addressing the new rule they've instituted regarding drop off times. According to sleep experts (we quoted many points made by Weissbluth in the email), enforcing their chosen start time is premature, given the age of the children.

So I'm curious. If your child goes to preschool, what is the arrival policy? What is the latest time that you can bring your child to school? (And if you arrive after that time, what happens?) If this were a matter of, "he'll just miss out on what we're doing," we wouldn't bat an eye...

I'm wondering if all preschools have this issue. For some children, the start time would be no problem whatsoever, but they've obviously not consulted with pediatricians or sleep experts in choosing their start time.

The principal literally believes she knows more than Weissbluth because she's a parent and a principal. (OMG.)

charmcitygirl

Jacob will be starting preschool in the fall and the start time is 9:15.  Drop off is between 9-9:15.  We haven't had orientation to see what happens if he is dropped off late.

I'm sorry you're having such a hard time with DS's preschool.  I think it might be time for a sitdown meeting with the principal, his lead teacher and you (and DH) to see if these issues can be worked out.

LucyPevensie

What time is drop off? 

Jack will start an afternoon program in the fall - so two days a week he'll start school at 12:15pm and be done by 2:15pm.  The morning class for his age group is at 9am I think - that was too early for us!!  I'm betting your drop-off is significantly earlier than that, though...

marcuej

Ours opens at 7am and last drop off time is 9am. 

What is the drop off time at your place?

I just read through your post from last night.  I'm so sorry you are dealing with all of this.  I was very surprised to hear what the teacher had to say and would be so upset if the same thing happened to me. 

Are there any other schools nearby you can check out?  Seems like it wouldn't hurt to have a back-up plan. 

Again...so sorry!  

RoxBride

9:30.

They don't want you there after 9:45.

Mrs.Babbsy

THe 2 DC's I've worked at won't accpet children after 9:15am

schmoodle

Toodle is in a Montessori School that is a full time daycare/school (they never use the word daycare though) and goes from infant to 8th grade. Other than the infant room, all children are supposed to be there by 8:30 at the latest but you can drop off anytime starting at 7 am I think. Because we commute from the suburbs so (a) would have to wake him super early to get there by then and (b) traffic is unpredictable, we just told the teacher when he started in the toddler room that there's no way we could have him there by 8:30 everyday and she said it was fine. We usually drop him closer to 9/9:30. If not for our circumstances, I'm not sure what, if any, repercussions there are for not having them there on time.

mrsolsenk12

I used to teach preschool and our morning start time was 9am. Drop off was no later than 9:15 but in extenuatuing circumstances i would make exceptions.

dusk42

Most of the centers I've looked at have an open door policy for daycare/childcare.  They open at 7 and close at 6, but I could drop her off any time in between.      

 

For actual preschools (not full-time care, morning or afternoon sessions, only 3-4 year olds/no toddlers/infants), the time there is so short and it is much more structured.  In that case, I think they are supposed to be there at a certain start time (9 am is common).  

 

It seems like you're not going to get far with them.  I'm sorry.  

futrkingsley

DS goes to a Montessori school that serves infants to pre-K.  They are open 7-6.  He attends part time and his "schedule" is 8:30 to 12:30 but it's a bit looser than that inactuality.  He's been late and no big deal has been made since the program is looser overall.  The teachers switch up the order of activities to suit their day sometimes (like outside time early on hot days).

I'm late to the discussion of your rough day yesterday but wanted to say, the discussion about how you PT your kid shouldn't come from them.  Given their rules for advancing through their care, it would have been perfectly appropriate to ask you where he was on it and ask to follow up given that he's supposed to advance soon.  But to tell you how to do it?  Not good.

For what it's worth, the nestie-popular 3 day method is exactly as the teacher described.  Ditch diapers (like in the garbage ditch), with no going back.  I didn't follow it exactly but once we decided to do it, DS did move to underpants and didn't wear diapers during day time at all again.  He was just past 2.5.  We had accidents but we dealt with it and moved on.  I'm not sure I would have gone for it at that age though with a new baby at home. 

Good luck sorting out all these competing issues.

pandabearlover

Hawaii must be an exception because all the preschools I checked into have early starts. Betsy will go starting Aug. 15.  She has to be there by 7:45 and in her chair ready to learn at 8am.  She gets out at 11:45.

I am ok with the early start time because both my girls are up for the day at 6am. Everyday no matter the time zone. 

Because they get up so early, we are usually ready for a playdate/activity around 9, but nothing starts here until after 10.  

LuckySunshineBaby

DD's is 9am for latest drop-off.  The other preschools in town are 8:30 and 8:45.  9am is one of the reasons we love hers!

I read your post last night and the school sounds like it's not a good fit.  I would also be upset about some of what the teacher mentioned/advised.  That said, as a former preschool teacher, a set time for the start of the day is really imperative for the structure of the day.  It is so disruptive when a child arrives late.  LO's have short attention spans and can quickly lose focus if they are engaging in an activity and another child arrives late.  It really isn't fair to the other kids.  Everybody is late once in awhile, but a set time is really for the best in a standard academic setting.

CMM05

School starts at 9am.

You can do "early care" between 8a-9a (for extra pay....), but the actual school day starts at 9a.

As a teacher, I wouldn't want kids coming in late. Of course, some kids do, but at DS's preschool, they start on-time. So, if we bring him in late, he is late for circle time, directions, etc. I don't think they tell anyone to go home if they are late, but it is a very big disruption.

 

itsmevkb

My son is in a K3 public school program and the we can't drop him off before 9:00 and definitely not later than 9:15.  If he's going to be late we are expected to call the school office.

For next year we are considering a full-day program and the drop-off/start time would be quite a bit earlier, 7:45am.  My son is up around 6 each morning though so I don't think that would be an issue for us.

crystalgirl

Thanks for all the responses. These are REALLY informative. One thing I'm noticing is that Montessori schools seem to generally have earlier start times (this is also a Montessori school). That's a bit surprising to me but good to know.

When we started at the school, we were first told try to arrive no later than 9:15. Then it became 9, and now it is 8:55 at which point the door to the classroom is locked and the shade is drawn. They will not open the door. If you arrive late, you have to go to the principal's office and have someone there escort your child to their room instead of walking them in yourself. The school day does start at 9, but they also have extended care from 6am and in the evening until 6pm. Also, this is a toddler classroom -- ages 16 months to 3.

Start time was one of the issues we sweated in choosing a school because DS sleeps from 7:30/8pm until 8/8:30am. He refuses to nap at school, so we really don't want to mess with his nighttime sleep. (His naps have always been sketchy, but his night sleep is awesome. He clearly needs this schedule for the time being.) We tried to figure out a way to get him going earlier in the morning, but we've had no luck. Right now being on time means throwing him in clothes, sticking a breakfast bar in his hand, and hopping in the car. It's such a short drive that he doesn't even get halfway through the breakfast bar. (Nevermind the importance of breakfast and its impact on obesity in this country... I'm not even going there.)

Anyway, it is really useful to hear from those who said that it's disruptive to have kids coming in late in the morning. I'd actually like to hear more about this. How is it more disruptive to the kids to see parents dropping their friends off at the beginning of the day than it is to see parents coming in throughout the day for volunteering and also for picking their kids up before the end of the school day? I truly am not meaning to be argumentative...I legitimately want to know what's different about the scenarios from a teacher's perspective. When I went to pick DS up yesterday, there were 11 kids sitting around tables who didn't react in the slightest that I had walked in the door... Are mornings that different just because it's morning? Give me some insight. Maybe I'll page a few people if no one sees this...

Thanks so much!

itsmevkb

I can imagine your frustration and feel fortunate that my son wakes up on his own no later than 7:00am.  He is impossible to wake up on demand so we need to let it happen naturally, which is what I'm assuming is similar to your son, just that he needs to sleep longer.  So, I completely understand your rush in the mornings.

Honestly, I don't see the big deal of letting him come a little bit later and locking the door seems borderline obnoxious.  At my son's school I get annoyed because the teacher won't unlock her door to let the kids into the classroom even one minute before 9:00 and sometimes she's a few minutes late.

Do you know what the whole morning routine is?  For my son, he goes in, puts his coat and backpack away and then sits at a table, finds his name card and practices writing his name and sometimes there are other activities for them.  This keeps the kids occupied as all the other kids make their way in.  I guess if the teacher for your son is actually starting some kind of group lesson right at nine then it would be more important to have every student in class and on time.  However, I find it odd to have only a 5 minute adjustment period for the kids at such a young age.  It would seem to me that it would just naturally take 15 minutes or so to have 20, 3-year-olds settle down and get busy working on something.