ShadyOstrich

And the teachers aren't supposed to.

A lot of schools are going to this model now, at least in Texas around me. Texas requires interventions if kids fail the STAAR (the statewide test they take that shows they know the material they've learned during the school year) so a lot of schools have built in an intervention period (or whatever the campus calls it) to give those kids the intervention time. My kid doesn't need intervention so they just do their homework during that time. They can sign up to go to certain teachers to get help, too. And a lot of schools/teachers have gotten away from assigning homework, since it just punishes the kids who don't have support st home.

Yup, we can't get bus drivers so they stagger schedules. One local district had the secondary campuses start later, and the parents have complained precisely because the younger kids have no one to watch them in the afternoon. Plus 5 year-olds aren't really at their best learning at 7:30 in the morning. When I taught at a high school we moved our start time feom 8 to 8:30. The kids were still tired because they just stayed up later. Most of my tired kids were up working or caring for siblings - or their own children. Starting later didn't really make a difference.