Why so much carpooling to school? (safety, kindergarten, friendly) - The Triangle Area - Page 8 - City-Data Forum

North_Raleigh_Guy · 03-08-2012, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by annesg

That being said, the letters home telling you where your school bus is specifically ask parents to accompany their kids.

Of all ages, or just kids under a certain age? Just curious. Thanks!

claud605 · 03-08-2012, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBigKahunaNC

It makes me furious to see busses rolling down the highways around here. No kid should ever have to be bussed more than 5 or 6 miles. !

AMEN to this. Buses on the highway is ludicrous.

NewUser · 03-08-2012, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by azwildcatfan

Oh man! This doesn't help my fear! I hope your son was okay while waiting for you guys though, hopefully it wasn't a too cold/wet day for him!

He was OK. It was probably about 50 degrees that day, so not too cold. He sat on the front porch for a while, wandered around the neighborhood a bit, and then went to a friend's house to play.

He now knows where the spare house key is hidden

The rule, I believe, is that kindergarten and 1st graders must have a parent waiting at the bus stop, but I'm not sure.

GarnerMama · 03-08-2012, 02:02 PM

My son is in the 2nd grade and I still watch him when he's playing in the front yard, even with a group of kids. If he rode the bus, I'd be close to the bus stop. You just never know. I'd rather them be pissed at me than for them to be kidnapped, raped, or killed. I was notified by the sex registry that an offender moved to our street a few months back. It really rips my nerves. I am across the street from a middle school. Unfortunately, his residency has been established there for years and he has the right to live near hundreds of children, although he was convicted of taking indecent liberties with a minor. Hovering is much better than the alternative.

evaofnc · 03-09-2012, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Is it common for parents go to the bus stop with their kids if they are beyond Kindergarten and 1st grade years? I would have been so embarrassed back in my day if my parent(s) ever came to the bus stop!

There's a kid in my neighborhood who is at least seventh grade and his mom goes to the bus stop with him. She seems like a complete helicopter mom from the way she interacts with her son. Every morning when I'm walking my dog he just looks absolutely miserable as his mom hovers about. I often wonder how much grief he gets from the other kids once on the bus.

CHTransplant · 03-09-2012, 08:42 AM

In my neighborhood, I see several parents at the bus stop for the elementary school kids, and no parents for the middle school kids (although I do see some dropping their kids at the bus stop as they drive out of the neighborhood - middle school bus time is 7:40).

TuborgP · 03-09-2012, 10:21 AM

Some might say that a school bus ride is not necessarily the best social environment to put your child in. Especially from grade five up.

Joanieskid · 05-29-2012, 08:33 AM

OP here, thought I'd add my experiences for future readers. Today is probably not the best day, since I just got back from driving my kids after waiting 30 minutes for a no show bus, but here goes.

I have experienced more late or no show buses in the past 3 months than I did in 4+ years in my former school district. Substitute drivers (which have also been encountered at a much higher frequency) still don't seem to have our stop on their list, which means they do all the other stops and realize they still have kids on the bus, then show up at our stop a good 20-30 minutes late. Of course, these days always seem to be the ones when I don't bring my phone, so I have to choose between running home to call and hoping I don't miss them (drivers will not drop the kids without an adult present), or sticking it out not knowing what's going on.

My personal feeling, having prior experience with smaller school districts, is that the large county wide school systems are just too big. Coordinating transportation here must be a nightmare. It is very frustrating as a parent to relinquish control to such a lousy system, so I now understand why so many choose to carpool. I just feel badly for the parents who have no choice in the matter and have to deal with this all the time. As for us, I'm going to stick it out for the rest of the year. My kids enjoy the social aspects of riding the bus and have had no complaints about the actual ride. They will be attending another nearby school next year, so I'm not sure what we'll be doing - it's just as close, but not as nice for walking, with more busy streets on the way. It's very discouraging to come from a place where everyone took the bus and there were never any problems, but this is my new reality and we will have to adapt.

Thanks to all for your insight.

twingles · 05-29-2012, 08:38 AM

^^^ You need to start being the squeaky wheel....we were having an issue at the beginning of this school year. Every day, no bus or combined with another bus. Always our bus. After many attempts at dealing with this thru the school and the local distric office for transportation, I finally contacted the head of transportation (Bob Snidemiller) and we had a bus within 2 days and no problems since.

If the top guy isn't aware of a problem, and you don't make it a problem, nothing is ever going to get done. Your silence is interpreted as aquiescence.

GarnerMama · 05-29-2012, 09:02 AM

If you can, get to know and talk to the bus driver and the liason at school. That seemed to help up a little...untill the changed the route. That made the bus late every day. A lot of parents had to complain and they finally had to change it again. The bus driver had no control over it and told me specifically who to call. It was a major PITA, so I ended up taking them to school in the mornings. Hopefully, after the beginning of the new school year, things will settle down. I certainly hope so--we're going to a new school too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joanieskid

OP here, thought I'd add my experiences for future readers. Today is probably not the best day, since I just got back from driving my kids after waiting 30 minutes for a no show bus, but here goes.

I have experienced more late or no show buses in the past 3 months than I did in 4+ years in my former school district. Substitute drivers (which have also been encountered at a much higher frequency) still don't seem to have our stop on their list, which means they do all the other stops and realize they still have kids on the bus, then show up at our stop a good 20-30 minutes late. Of course, these days always seem to be the ones when I don't bring my phone, so I have to choose between running home to call and hoping I don't miss them (drivers will not drop the kids without an adult present), or sticking it out not knowing what's going on.

My personal feeling, having prior experience with smaller school districts, is that the large county wide school systems are just too big. Coordinating transportation here must be a nightmare. It is very frustrating as a parent to relinquish control to such a lousy system, so I now understand why so many choose to carpool. I just feel badly for the parents who have no choice in the matter and have to deal with this all the time. As for us, I'm going to stick it out for the rest of the year. My kids enjoy the social aspects of riding the bus and have had no complaints about the actual ride. They will be attending another nearby school next year, so I'm not sure what we'll be doing - it's just as close, but not as nice for walking, with more busy streets on the way. It's very discouraging to come from a place where everyone took the bus and there were never any problems, but this is my new reality and we will have to adapt.

Thanks to all for your insight.