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Has Wake county yet to say what they can do about all this overcrowding to actually solve it? The year round was only a temp solution anyway so what now? It seems that this really hasnt changed after more money for schools. Taxes are on the way up so what is going to happen?
Currently their actions arent keeping up with the mass of kids and now I am reading about bathrooms being used as classrooms? I mean if we are paying taxes and our kids are in storage closets and bathrooms, what would we need to pay to in taxes to actually fox this?
If more residents are moving here and the county gets more in from taxes why arent the schools keeping up?
Can somebody help me out these quotes from the article into perspective?
I have often wondered why so many parents in this area drive their children to school instead of putting them on the bus? I know some children have special needs, or go to charter or magnet schools that don’t provide transportation, so those parents have to drive them to school everyday, but I can’t help but feel that there are a lot of students who have access to buses but aren’t using them. Why is this? So many adults complain about the lack of good public transportation is this area, yet when buses are provided to transport children to school many parents opt to drive them instead.
When I was a child I took the bus from K all the way up to 11th grade. The bus ride depending on the school I went to was anywhere from 15 minutes to 40 minutes. I looked forward to and enjoyed waiting at the bus stop and the Bus ride to school. It gave me an opportunity to socialize with friends, make new friends, and cram for the occasional test. Why is it that so many parents don’t want to put their children on the school buses here? I find it so odd when I pass schools that have long carpool lines of parents picking up / dropping off their children when at the same time buses are lined up to pick up the rest of the children. Is there something wrong with the bus system that I am not aware of? Are there not enough buses?
I don’t mean to offend those of you who drive your children to school. I just really want to understand why so many people in this area appear to choose to do so when there are other buses available
NRG, no offense taken. I've been having this carpool battle with myself since we moved here. Old neighborhood we walked everyday, even in the rain. We loved it! 90% of the school was in the "walk zone". We had walking groups that met on our corner. It was very social. I miss it.
But now I'm one of those carpoolers. Ugh!! Our neighborhood is the 2nd stop in the am and the 2nd to last stop in the pm. This means the bus comes at 7:20 for a start time of 9 am and drops off at 5 pm when school ends at 3:30. I really am not comfortable with my child being on the bus for 1.5 hours each way. I do however car pool with a friend who has 2 kids. So we are taking one less car off the road.
But I refuse to sit in the carpool line with my car running for 30 mins. I don't care how hot it is. I can't do that. Usually I park on a side street and walk up to get the kids, which this school doesn't prefer.
My 4 year old daughter really wants to ride the bus next year. We'll see. She has a peanut allergy and I hear the bus drivers won't carry epi-pens on the bus. But there are ALOT more car poolers than kids w/ conditions like food allergies.
So in the meantime I'm telling my kids they are getting carbon emission credits for Christmas. LOL!!! Just kidding... but maybe that is what I will ask for to ease my guilt.
Wow, I didn't realize busing was such an issue, too. In my town here in MA, the longest ride is about 45 min and I think that's too long! We moved over the summer and my daughter is one of the last pick ups in the AM (so about a 10 min ride to school) but one of the last drop offs in the PM (about 1/2 ride from school). In our old house it was the opposite!
We would often walk to school last year but 2nd grade is a different building across town (don't ask----we have ONE elementary school but K-1 is in one bldg, 2-3 in another and 4-5 in yet another..). So she needs to take the bus this year. Luckily, our town doesn't charge for busing. Some towns around here charge an unbelievable amount (hence parents drive) and in Randolph, MA they just discontinued it altogether! (I don't live there, thank goodness).
Our new home is just within the 1 mile cutoff for middle/high school so there's no bus for my older two. Right now they're walking or catching rides from neighbors because I'm out of the house too early and my husband is home with our 8 year old and can't leave her to drive them. So they walk or ride their bikes. However, my oldest is getting his license this week. He doesn't have a car but he's been saving.
When I do drive them, I avoid the carpool lines by dropping them off about a block away, right on my route to work and they walk from there.
I wonder why more parents in those long carpool lines at WCPSS don't do the same?
I had the same thought. If you're close enough to see the school from your house, why not walk? It'll save you time and you'll get some good exercise.
Some kids who are picked up or dropped off by their parents attend extra curricular activities either before or after school. I know from personal experience that figure skaters often take lessons early in the morning.
Many parents don’t let their children walk to due to safety concerns…both from cars on the road and the fear of adduction.
Before we moved here, my daughter walked to school starting in kindergarten. Though she could ‘technically’ have walked to elementary school (we had bus service), there is no way I would have let her. I don’t know the people on the route, since the schools here (for good reason, there are just too many kids) don’t call homes when a child is absent, I’d have no way to know she was safe….well…it just wasn’t happening. Maybe if I had grown up here like
If she goes to WF-R High school….which isn’t that far away from us (kids do take the bus from our area though) I may let her ride her bike if she wants…but we’ll see.
I haven't seen many of those "good" excuses at our school. They line up like lemmings because they don't want Johnny and Sally on the icky old school bus. They'd rather sit there with their SUV's running for 40 minutes. Which makes me wonder WHY on earth they say they don't want the kids on a bus for that long, they'd rather they stand on a sidewalk for that time???
I don't get it. My son says he would MUCH rather take the bus. He said, "the car poolers stand in the sun forEVER, we just walk out of the school, get on the bus and leave". Yep.
What's wrong here can be summed up in one word "greed".
The building and real estate interests don't want permits to wait for infrastructure. They also don't want impact fees to save interest by getting the money up front.
If the brakes were put on new development, WCPSS could catch up and be able to take better care of the students.
Hopefully, word of the school overload will quickly spread and stop many new residents from selecting Wake County.
Shame greed has ruled so well here. Not only schools are in short supply, but roads, water, sewer, libraries and more.
It's weird that it takes some schools so long for the carpool. There has to be some sort of explaination why so many kids don't ride the bus.
Between my kids, we've attended 4 different public schools at the elementary and middle school level and I swear I've never waited anymore than 10 minutes TOPS in the carpool lane at any of them. I drop one child at off Cary Elementary almost every morning. We have no issues with her riding the bus (and she does ride it home daily), but it works out better for us to drop her off because we have another child in charter school and have to provide our own transportation. Because of timing issues, it's more convenient to drop her off. Today I drove her to school, dropped her off in the carpool lane and drove home in 10 minutes total.
It's weird that it takes some schools so long for the carpool. There has to be some sort of explaination why so many kids don't ride the bus.
Between my kids, we've attended 4 different public schools at the elementary and middle school level and I swear I've never waited anymore than 10 minutes TOPS in the carpool lane at any of them. I drop one child at off Cary Elementary almost every morning. We have no issues with her riding the bus (and she does ride it home daily), but it works out better for us to drop her off because we have another child in charter school and have to provide our own transportation. Because of timing issues, it's more convenient to drop her off. Today I drove her to school, dropped her off in the carpool lane and drove home in 10 minutes total.
I never had an issue with car pool either...the only time you waited was right at the very start...because you would have some parents get in line 30 minutes a head of time just to be first. Same way at the end of the day....it's the parents that camp out for 30 mintues before the end of day that are waiting.
Ugh!! Our neighborhood is the 2nd stop in the am and the 2nd to last stop in the pm. This means the bus comes at 7:20 for a start time of 9 am and drops off at 5 pm when school ends at 3:30. I really am not comfortable with my child being on the bus for 1.5 hours each way.
WOW! 3 hours a day on a bus?
Heres an idea WCPS can save money on trailers by holding classes on the bus. It sure beats converting storage closets and bathrooms
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whats the solution
