Are Private Schools REALLY the best/only option in Durham?

[PatRoy1]

Originally Posted by DanielleNC

Maybe I misunderstood, but why would they drop them off from the bus if they could just walk? I would also think the bus wouldn't be allowed to drop them off unless it's part of some kind of program.

I am just confused as to why the students would get on a bus, wait for it to fill up, and then get dropped off right there at the entrance of the school when they could have walked there in that time.

My understanding is that there were complaints about the walking (safety with so many students wandering about unsupervised) so now the school district buses them to the library.

It appears that they are bused over before school is officially over. My guess is so that these buses can then be used to transport the other students home.

Though the library runs various programs, these last an hour at most and involve relatively few students. They do not run an afterschool daycare program. Though that is, obviously, what the library is being used for.

The majority of students are not enrolled in any program at the library. Some work on homework or fool around on the computers. But most are involved in various forms of social interaction, some of which ends up in bullying and fights. Some students cause so much trouble that they are eventually evicted and then hang around in the parking lot causing mayhem out there.

It makes no sense to me either.

The library does not have the staff to provide supervision for this many kids. There are afterschool programs at Carrington. Why are these students not involved there is a mystery to me.

But the big mystery is why the school district would open itself to the liability of leaving students at a public place. The library does not screen who comes and goes. Nor can it realistically be expected to protect students from shady goings on in the bathrooms or fights in the parking lot. It's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

[Special_Guest]

This is really confusing to me, too. I am a product of the Durham Public School system, and they were VERY particular about busing issues when I was there--you needed a note to ride home on a friend's bus. And they wouldn't pick you up from a random intersection either. So it sounds like things have gotten lax. Also, parents are TOTALLY different than they were when I was coming up in the 80s and 90s. "I'm just going to hang out in the library up the street after school" wouldn't have flown with most parents back then. I don't know of anybody who did anything like this.

This situation is pretty unacceptable if you ask me. I LOVE kids, and I work with them professionally, but honestly, if their parents aren't concerned about their safety walking home, I don't think it's the school's place to make alternate arrangements for them. This isn't the job of the librarians either. These parents are AWFUL, and need to stop being cheap and provide after-school arrangements for their kids.

I think the library should create a "no unchaperoned kids under 16" rule.

[PatRoy1]

Originally Posted by Special_Guest

This is really confusing to me, too. I am a product of the Durham Public School system, and they were VERY particular about busing issues when I was there--you needed a note to ride home on a friend's bus. And they wouldn't pick you up from a random intersection either. So it sounds like things have gotten lax. Also, parents are TOTALLY different than they were when I was coming up in the 80s and 90s. "I'm just going to hang out in the library up the street after school" wouldn't have flown with most parents back then. I don't know of anybody who did anything like this.

This situation is pretty unacceptable if you ask me. I LOVE kids, and I work with them professionally, but honestly, if their parents aren't concerned about their safety walking home, I don't think it's the school's place to make alternate arrangements for them. This isn't the job of the librarians either. These parents are AWFUL, and need to stop being cheap and provide after-school arrangements for their kids.

I think the library should create a "no unchaperoned kids under 16" rule.

These students do not walk home. They are bused in from neighborhoods a distance away in what I assume is an effort at providing a better education for those who live in lower income areas.The behavior problems with the unsupervised walking occurred in the short distance from the school to the library.

And you are right. It is not the job of the librarians to provide supervision for students from 2:30 until 6:00 or 9:00 at night. Not only does it take away from their literacy efforts and mission, but there are far too few librarians to provide adequate supervision for the amount of students who descend on the library every afternoon.

I have been informed by a library administrator that they are working with school administrators on this issue. But the buses are still dropping the students off every day. Now that spring sports have started, apparently the numbers are not quite as high as they were over the winter. However, in the past, sports teams were dropped off at the library to await their rides.

I too wonder why the school district transports students to the library. Will they drop students off at a mall or a playground to await rides?

My guess is that school administrators have decided that they would rather dump the students off at the library than have them wander their halls after school. But why they don't bus them home or enroll them in afterschool programs is beyond me.

Or why the library allows this to go on. Does it go on at other public libraries in Durham?

Or why parents would place their children in such a precarious situation for hours on end. There is a considerable amount of bullying and misbehavior that goes on and it is not unheard of for people to prey on children in public places.

There is bound to be something I don't understand about all this as it just doesn't make sense.

Over the holidays, we were looking at ranch style homes on acre or so lots in the area. Love the area, but was appalled by the situation at the library. One patron says she phones from the parking lot for an escort into the building as she is intimidated by the teens hanging around the entrance. Yikes!

We quit looking for a home in this area as there is absolutely no way I would move to a place where I was leery about going to the library in the afternoon.