School-start ‘flip plan’ is a flop

Beaufort County school superintendent Jeff Moss had a plan he said would create a healthier, safer learning environment for all children. He flipped school start times.

He said the plan utilizes the latest medical and educational research. Perhaps he did not read or fully comprehend the research. The “flip plan” does not quite comply with the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations. The result is a plan that defies its own research — and a divided school community because the plan gives to one child and takes away from another.

A full year of implementation has produced no documented, measurable, or verifiable data of benefits.

Parents continue to express concerns: loss of sleeping time, disruption of family routines, fears and anxieties of bus time pick-ups, after-school supervision of younger siblings, and hardships due to additional child care costs. To date, none of these concerns have been addressed.

In all fairness, the “flip plan” does benefit 45 percent of students, but it also fails 55 percent of them. A plan with a 45 percent success rate is abysmal.

A plan that forces 6-, 7- and 8-year-old children to wait at a bus stop in the dark is irresponsible and indefensible.

One of the many questions the board must ask and demand succinct answers to is this: How did the “flip plan” create a healthier, safer learning environment for all children?

It’s another example of failed leadership by the second highest paid superintendent in the state and the upper 90 percent in the nation.

This story was originally published July 19, 2017 at 2:08 PM with the headline "School-start ‘flip plan’ is a flop."