Bus update

[donutsweeper]

So remember my rant about the schools here getting rid of the buses with the idea the city buses will do the job just as well?

So, today was the day to pick bus cards, but guess what? They didn't have ANY schedules there. Nada. No advice or help for kids needing to plan their routes. When asked why, the response was they didn't think they were necessary.

I assume they figured everyone lived right next to a bus stop and instinctively knew which route to take to get them to school. Or, perhaps, they just didn't care. *sighs* Back to wrangling with the metrotransit website for us I suppose.

Comments

[pielover62.livejournal.com]

You don't sound like your complaining. You sound like a reasonable parent who is concerned for your children. It's not at all unreasonable for you to want to know that they can get back and forth to school each day in a safe and timely manner. I imagine these same things can happen on the way home in the afternoon, which I know would cause me to worry constantly if they had made it home safely, too.

Do you have any recourse at all? Any way to make your concerns and opinions known? Any way to protest that might be effective? These are the times I'm actually glad I don't have children, because things like this just make me so mad about the state of education in this country!! Every politician out there purports to support better education, yet it seems that nothing ever gets any better, only worse.

Well, anyway, that's my rant. I'll say a little prayer for you and your family.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, other than voting the school board out of office at the next election there's really no options for letting one's opinions known. Basically, for a limited number of parameters using city busing vs school busing is an amazingly good idea (saves money, allows for transportation at other times and to other places) and for a good half of the kids it'll be just as easy/easier, but there wasn't much thought in the implementation towards the other kids out there.

In a way, we were lucky, because this program had been phased in and my kids' school was among the last added. In general, I think you're right about politicians- they talk a good game about the importance of kids and education and then gut the system to save money because taxes are unpopular and might get them voted out of office. *SIGHS*