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Once my oldest started Kindergarten, I took advantage of my long tenure at work to ask for a reduction from 40 hours/week to 30 hours/week. I drop off the kids in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon. I'm less stressed at work and get to spend more time with my kids discussing their day. Morning is a breeze with no line. Afternoons, I time my commute to arrive at the tail end of the line as it is winding down and there's not a long wait.
(They also attend our Year-Round option school, which is 6.5 miles from home.)
Another contributing factor, especially for those of us in Western Wake, is the fact that many of our kids have been redistricted and shuffled around to different schools over the years. Your turn, Mills Park ;-). As a result, we have opted out of that and essentially "grandfathered" ourselves into the schools that we were originally assigned to. The catch is, the school won't (understandably) provide a bus stop for that. So we carpool. But we share rides with other neighbors in the same situation.
There are a few reasons, some more eh, reasonable than others . However, the fact that these lines are allowed to back up onto roads is kind of crazy. No one else would be allowed to just sit in the road, blocking traffic. As mentioned, Davis Drive is bad, but so is Morrisville elementary, where they back up onto Morrisville Parkway in both directions and sometimes even up into the turn lane on Davis and into the right travel lane. Also, Cedar Fork backs up all the time as well, but at least Town Hall drive is not a major thoroughfare. The school system needs to plan for this, by having adequate busing, enough car pool lane drop offs or controlling the traffic and ensuring their problem doesn't become the rest of our problem.
I only have high schoolers, so really can not comment on the elementary schools or middle schools. But one thing I have noticed in the area is that there tends to be a lack of contiguous side walks. The road leading to Green Hope High School in both directions is lacking a side walk and kids walk on the edge of a fairly narrow road. I would think that a road with a school should have side walks. The city/town/county should make a priority of providing safe walking areas to and from schools.
I agree. We are two miles from GHHS and it's an easy flat walk. My kid would do it if he had to. No way I n hell he is walking down that road at dismissal the way it is now. One of these days some kid is going to get knocked into Morrisville and then we will see how the school handles kids walking from there. Always reactive never proactive - like the kids in Wake Forest whose bus stop was in a veritable highway till they got hit by a car.
Kids will age out of the choice program next year. That's going to solve a lot of problems for some schools.
They instituted a choice plan for the 2012 school year where parents were given five schools to choose from and they could there. Needless to say this caused all kinds of UNFORESEEN ( ha ha) problems with busing. The kids who started kindy in 2012 will be in fifth grade next year and after that they must return to their base middle school.
They instituted a choice plan for the 2012 school year where parents were given five schools to choose from and they could there. Needless to say this caused all kinds of UNFORESEEN ( ha ha) problems with busing. The kids who started kindy in 2012 will be in fifth grade next year and after that they must return to their base middle school.
Interesting - I vaguely remember reading something about that. Seems like a terrible idea - was the goal to diversify the schools?
Not only are there long lines AT the schools, in my neighborhood there are many parents who drive their kids to the bus stop and sit in their cars idling away burning gas until the bus shows up. Some of these parents live just a few houses down the street. After the bus leaves many of them do a U turn and drive a short way back to their house.
My neighborhood has sidewalks and multi-use trails that should make it easy for parents to walk with their kids to the bus stop and wait with them.
It does not seem to matter if it is a good or bad weather day.
That has to be a fairly recent phenomenon. Previously, hordes of parents never drove their cars to the bustop and waited there.
Also, they seldom accompanied their children to the bustop.
I see that happening in neighborhoods that are reasonably safe, too. I don't get it.
Interesting - I vaguely remember reading something about that. Seems like a terrible idea - was the goal to diversify the schools?
Actually, it was the exact opposite. It was to give people a choice of 5 schools within a certain radius of your house -- i.e., to guarantee you could go to a "neighborhood school". For instance, I live in NW Cary and our choices were:
Morrisville ES
Green Hope ES
Davis Dr ES
Carpenter ES
Weatherstone ES
You also weren't guaranteed a seat in the one(s) you chose (unless you were already at one of the schools, in which case you could just stay). I had a rising 5th grader and rising 2nd grader at the time, so we just stayed at our current school.
That has to be a fairly recent phenomenon. Previously, hordes of parents never drove their cars to the bustop and waited there.
Also, they seldom accompanied their children to the bustop.
I see that happening in neighborhoods that are reasonably safe, too. I don't get it.
WCPSS mandates that there be an adult present with kindergarten and 1st grade students. I think they instituted that after a rash of dropping little kids off at the wrong stops a few years ago.
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. However, the fact that these lines are allowed to back up onto roads is kind of crazy. No one else would be allowed to just sit in the road, blocking traffic. As mentioned, Davis Drive is bad, but so is Morrisville elementary, where they back up onto Morrisville Parkway in both directions and sometimes even up into the turn lane on Davis and into the right travel lane. Also, Cedar Fork backs up all the time as well, but at least Town Hall drive is not a major thoroughfare. The school system needs to plan for this, by having adequate busing, enough car pool lane drop offs or controlling the traffic and ensuring their problem doesn't become the rest of our problem.
