We just moved so I looked up how it would be if my daughter decided to attend the public school. The bus route has her stop listed as 7:50 am and the school opens their doors at 8:25 am. And I just found out that she would be zoned for a school 2.5 miles away instead of the one that I can literally see from my back deck.
This is going to be such a big change for us when the time comes! It's a 5 minute walk to and from DD's elementary school so she has always done that rain or shine. I'm glad we have one more year of that.
The bus picks up about an hour before school starts for junior high. I imagine we will do a mixture of both.
Is your house towards the end of the route? I rode the bus for 2 years in HS. I was the 2nd to last stop on the route home, and it was nearly an hour on the bus. I hated it. The school was about 15-20 minutes away from my childhood house, so a bit far for a working parent to drive 2x/day.
That is a good question. I will have to ask, not sure where at on the route our stop falls.
It's a 15 min drive. DS1 really wants to ride the bus, but his idea of the bus is the short ride to/from elementary. The other issue in favor is that the middle school is a 15 min drive which is not bad, but I have not done that during a school day and it is located in the middle of a neighborhood in our downtown surrounded by one way streets and drop off is in a tight area and likely gets congested.
Post by sparkythelawyer on Aug 4, 2021 9:02:53 GMT -5
With your update, in your shoes I would drop DS off in the morning but let him take the bus home in the afternoon. To make that morning schedule work he'd have to be out the door at like, 615am. I don't know where you live, but in the fall and winter months, he will be walking to the bus in the dark. I'd worry about him getting hit by a car. I'd worry about him having to be up at like, 515am and not having enough sleep to be sufficiently rested, all that jazz. Hell, in my house I'd end up doing the drop off half the mornings anyway because one of us would oversleep and miss the bus. If he really wants to do the whole bus shebang, he can do it in the PM.
Post by maudefindlay on Aug 4, 2021 9:13:53 GMT -5
sparkythelawyer, I have been thinking of letting him ride one way, but neither sounds great. I'm thinking I will just need to drive him both ways. We are midwest and parts of the year will be dark at that time. Hard to describe, but he wouldn't cross any roads, but would be leaving our neighborhood and going down a road with no sidewalks to get to this stop, which is just in front of some random person's house. We also have had reports of bobcats. After school seems like too late to wait for him for activities, I will need him earlier. He also cannot do school work on the bus as it makes him car sick and would be good to have him home to do that. Typing this all out I know what to do now.
Oh man. No, that schedule is crazy. What is their justification for not picking him up closer to home? That alone seems like a mistake by the transportation folks?
Are there any other middle schoolers in your neighborhood that you could talk to their parents to see how they have managed this (if the kids are older), or maybe if they'd want to set up a carpool?
It's a 15 min drive. DS1 really wants to ride the bus, but his idea of the bus is the short ride to/from elementary. The other issue in favor is that the middle school is a 15 min drive which is not bad, but I have not done that during a school day and it is located in the middle of a neighborhood in our downtown surrounded by one way streets and drop off is in a tight area and likely gets congested.
How many miles is that 15 min drive? That could be 12 miles or 2 depending on where you live.
Oh, that's awful- but it's the reality for a lot of public districts today. We are short about 30 bus drivers right now, with school starting in less than two weeks.
Will buses be masked in your district? Do you know if they have an attendant on that route?
ETA: Start putting out feelers for carpooling options. It really helps with congestion at the schools, and I promise there are other parents thinking the same things right now.
It's a 15 min drive. DS1 really wants to ride the bus, but his idea of the bus is the short ride to/from elementary. The other issue in favor is that the middle school is a 15 min drive which is not bad, but I have not done that during a school day and it is located in the middle of a neighborhood in our downtown surrounded by one way streets and drop off is in a tight area and likely gets congested.
How many miles is that 15 min drive? That could be 12 miles or 2 depending on where you live.
I’m asking about miles because if it is not many miles but congested - I would probably do one of two things.
1 - I would try to find out the bus route and see if there is another stop he could walk to that is either a different bus or different part of the route that would be shorter.
In my neighborhood there is a bus stop at one end of my street that picks up 45 min before school. On the other side or the block is a different bus that picks up 10 min before school. We are technically assigned to the 45 min one but we choose to use the 10 min one instead.
Also when my kid was in K and I had a toddler and newborn, the bus pickup time conflicted with preschool pickup and driving her would have meant my newborn was in the car for over an hour. Instead I found a different bus stop that had a time that worked for us and drove her there every day. She still got the bus experience but I got a manageable schedule.
2. If you can’t make the bus work out, I would drive him close to the school but not all the way there. He can walk the rest of the way and you can pick a place that is convenient to your route/life to drop off.
Post by maudefindlay on Aug 4, 2021 9:29:31 GMT -5
af1212, dropping off near/picking up near school sounds like a good idea and we got him a phone. Our public library is a block over and the lot backs up near the school.
Have you called the school and the transportation company? Schools can change bus routes, move bus stops etc and do them fairly often ( from my experience) but I would absolutely start making phone calls. I would also email the Superintendent.
There are strict regulations regarding safety and personally I would drive his walking route to the bus stop and if there are no sidewalks, no crosswalks, if he has to cross a busy road or train tracks I would take a picture and attach that to the emails. It may not reduce his bus time but can hopefully help his walking time.
I feel horrible for him. Hopefully pushing the school to figure out how to get this corrected will help especially if the school is only 15 minutes away.
af1212, dropping off near/picking up near school sounds like a good idea and we got him a phone. Our public library is a block over and the lot backs up near the school.
Oh that’s great!! Also gives him a place to hang if you can’t get there at a certain time or whatever.
Have you called the school and the transportation company? Schools can change bus routes, move bus stops etc and do them fairly often ( from my experience) but I would absolutely start making phone calls. I would also email the Superintendent.
There are strict regulations regarding safety and personally I would drive his walking route to the bus stop and if there are no sidewalks, no crosswalks, if he has to cross a busy road or train tracks I would take a picture and attach that to the emails. It may not reduce his bus time but can hopefully help his walking time.
I feel horrible for him. Hopefully pushing the school to figure out how to get this corrected will help especially if the school is only 15 minutes away.
Best of luck.
I have called 2x and then later get an updated notification and things have changed again. The main safety issue is that it is dark at certain times of year, possible animal encounters, and no sidewalks. He would have no busy road to cross to get to the bus stop.
sparkythelawyer , I have been thinking of letting him ride one way, but neither sounds great. I'm thinking I will just need to drive him both ways. We are midwest and parts of the year will be dark at that time. Hard to describe, but he wouldn't cross any roads, but would be leaving our neighborhood and going down a road with no sidewalks to get to this stop, which is just in front of some random person's house. We also have had reports of bobcats. After school seems like too late to wait for him for activities, I will need him earlier. He also cannot do school work on the bus as it makes him car sick and would be good to have him home to do that. Typing this all out I know what to do now.
Thanks all for helping me sound this out.
I too, am in the midwest.
Let's be real. Once winter hits you were going to be driving him in the morning anyway :-)
Have you called the school and the transportation company? Schools can change bus routes, move bus stops etc and do them fairly often ( from my experience) but I would absolutely start making phone calls. I would also email the Superintendent.
There are strict regulations regarding safety and personally I would drive his walking route to the bus stop and if there are no sidewalks, no crosswalks, if he has to cross a busy road or train tracks I would take a picture and attach that to the emails. It may not reduce his bus time but can hopefully help his walking time.
I feel horrible for him. Hopefully pushing the school to figure out how to get this corrected will help especially if the school is only 15 minutes away.
Best of luck.
I have called 2x and then later get an updated notification and things have changed again. The main safety issue is that it is dark at certain times of year, possible animal encounters, and no sidewalks. He would have no busy road to cross to get to the bus stop.
This is insane to me! No sidewalks! I would definitely make a stink.
Have you called the school and the transportation company? Schools can change bus routes, move bus stops etc and do them fairly often ( from my experience) but I would absolutely start making phone calls. I would also email the Superintendent.
There are strict regulations regarding safety and personally I would drive his walking route to the bus stop and if there are no sidewalks, no crosswalks, if he has to cross a busy road or train tracks I would take a picture and attach that to the emails. It may not reduce his bus time but can hopefully help his walking time.
I feel horrible for him. Hopefully pushing the school to figure out how to get this corrected will help especially if the school is only 15 minutes away.
Best of luck.
I have called 2x and then later get an updated notification and things have changed again. The main safety issue is that it is dark at certain times of year, possible animal encounters, and no sidewalks. He would have no busy road to cross to get to the bus stop.
Having no sidewalks may be a good place to start. I am almost positive if you pull up the regulations for bus pick-up- which should be on the transportation or school administration website- if no sidewalks are available they need to be picked up at their house or very close to their house. The walking at dark should be another issue.
I would email the school principal, transportation company and the Superintendent w/their secretary a group email laying out exactly what you wrote here with attached pictures.
I typically am not that mother but this is ridiculous and really needs to brought up the ranks.
I like the other suggestions of checking out other bus stops in the neighborhood or one over. Different busses can be in the same neighborhood or dropping him off a block down the street from the school.
I hope you get a solution. Walking in the dark at that time for 15 minutes, especially with no sidewalks is unsafe no matter what age.
Last year, my son had over an hour on the bus, but at least he was picked up right at our house! But the schedule and transportation was a big factor in why we changed schools this year.