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So, I'm happily waiting at the bus stop this afternoon for my second grader to come home from school. Bus comes, lets off kids - my child is not on the bus and does not get off at her bus stop! By this time it is 45 minutes after dismissal and I do not know where my child is. I had to call the school to locate my child!!! They did not call me to tell me she missed the bus. When bringing up child safety issues, WCPSS recent bus transportation incidents, & why had the school had not contacted me the parent sooner... to the Elementary School Principal, his reaction was to explain to me that he dismisses 600 students daily and he's done pretty well so far. What??? All it takes is for something to happen to one child! When a parent comes to a school principal in a panic not knowing where her child has been so long after dismissal, just a simple sorry and a little empathy will do, not weak explanations of how the school has performed thus far. I'm just really disappointed with the parent /educator communication with this school principal and the potential safety of my child. Has anyone else had similar issues in dealing with any of the WCPSS schools? What is the course of action to file a complaint against a school principal in WCPSS? Do I go to my school board representative?
I would contact the principal's area superintendent - - that is the principal's direct supervisor, and the appropriate step up the chain of command. If you contact a school board member, they'll just pass it off to an area superintendent, so you might as well eliminate all of the message passing.
I've attached a link below - just find your child's school, and you'll find the area superintendent's name/contact info in the shaded box above.
I feel so bad you had to go through that and your child also. I could not even imagine how freaked out you must have been when your child did not get off of the bus and than get the most lame answer from the head of the school.
My daughter is now 28, but when she was at Lynn Rd. (a great school I may say) in kindergarden she didn't get off the bus with her brother who was in 2nd grade. I asked him and he was clueless. Panicing and called the school they had no clue, and said she probably (PROBABLY!) got on the wrong bus. I said how do we know this? They said when that bus driver gets to the end of his route and has a child left he will call. I was sick to my stomach and a royal mess. I of course went to the school and was hysterical. About 1 hour later a driver called from Sanderson High and said he had Holly still on his bus, and was bringing her back. She was so scared, but what she did was follow her little friend from class on that bus. I said didn't everyone look different and your brother wasn't on the bus either. She didn't know. It was near the beginning of the year and I don't blame the principal but do blame the driver and the teacher that put the children on the bus that day. They ere wearing tags like blue bus, green bus etc.... So someone asn't doing there job. Doesn't mean it is a bad school. I drove for a while until I got comfortable again. :-)
Oh gosh...I understand the panic AND outrage. I had this same exact thing happen in NJ when my now 10 year old was in Kindergarten. A new bus driver stopped at our stop and my son didn't get off (the kids on the bus told me he never got on his bus).
I have to say that the principal kept me on the phone until we found my son (the longest and scariest 20 minutes of my life) who got on the wrong bus.
I was just a tadbit irritated at the "he's supposed to know which bus to get on" comment from the Vice Principal. He's in KINDERGARTEN and it was the first month of school. sheesh.
I'd definately contact the Superintendent. That principal needs a swift kick..and promptly. That is NOT what you tell a parent when due to their actions, a child's whereabouts are unknown.
I haven't had the specific experience you're describing. But I do have fairly regular issues with the school bus in general. There was probably half a dozen times last year where someone in our cul-de-sac had to drive the neighborhood kids to school after the bus didn't come to pick them up. It's happened once already this year, and already once this year the bus came about 15 minutes early and nearly drove off without 1/2 the kids from our stop. It's mind bogglingly frustrating not knowing each day if the bus will come early or not at all. Additionally the school sent the neighborhood a letter telling us to be at our stop by 7:05am. Yet the bus is actually scheduled to arrive at 8:05am.
I once had a problem with a Principal at my son's school. There is a process that you have to follow. It is listed in the handbood which can be found on the WCPSS website.
1. First you need to write a letter to the principal requesting a meeting.
2. If you do not get anywhere in the meeting, you then need to appeal to the district superintendent.
3. If that fails, you need to appeal to the superintendent.
4. If that fails, you can appeal to the school board.
All these requests have to be in writing from what I remember. You also have a certain number of days to get your letter/appeal in. I always hand delivered the letters to Wake Forest Road and had them time and date stamp them.
I absolutely didn't get anywhere with WCPSS. The system is so bureaucratic its not even funny. All they do is stick up for one another. Good luck and I'm sorry for what happened. I hope you have better luck than I did.
Last edited by jln69; 10-01-2008 at 07:22 PM..
Reason: posted too soon
I absolutely didn't get anywhere with WCPSS. The system is so bureaucratic its not even funny. All they do is stick up for one another. Good luck and I'm sorry for what happened. I hope you have better luck than I did.
Hence what I said about getting news or some media coverage.
My question, before you tar and feather this guy, was: Did the principal actually even KNOW she didn't make the bus? I suspect school principals have just a few other things going on in their workday than to check off every student and what bus they get on.
The comment was flippant, unquestionably, and yes, it's a safety issue, but I am wondering what people expect a principal to know about what bus each and every child gets on, without police-state enforcement?
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Nice
I feel so bad you had to go through that and your child also. I could not even imagine how freaked out you must have been when your child did not get off of the bus and than get the most lame answer from the head of the school.
