Knew you parents of kids with disabilities would understand my panic and high blood pressure on this one! Background: My DH is out of town moving our oldest DD19 to college, so I am single-parenting it till Saturday....
We moved my DD9 from parochial to public school this year because her hearing loss has gotten to the point she just needs more services. SHE is excited about riding the bus for the first time (I, OTH, am terrified about whether the drivers will help her, etc.).....so the ride TO school goes just fine. I rush home from work to meet the bus this afternoon. Bus is scheduled to arrive at 3:29.....at 4:02 I am starting to panic. The neighbor is starting to get edgy, too. Her DD is a year younger, but has been riding the bus for several years and NEVER this late. I have to go and pick up my high schooler and middle schooler or we will NEVER make it to football practice, so I leave the bus stop in the hands of my neighbor. She says she will call as soon as the bus arrives. I am back in 20 minutes.
STILL no bus! Now we are panicked.....neighbor calls the school. There has been an ACCIDENT with the bus in the neighboring subdivision. She rushes off, and I wait at the stop for the kids because one secretary thinks that the kids have been transferred to a new bus but the other is not sure. She quickly calls back- the bus RAN OVER a parked PICKUP! The kids are hot- sat on the bus in 95 degree weather with 105 degree heat index for over an hour, but otherwise fine. Had to wait till the police and fire gave each child the all clear. Our two kids were cleared at 5:04....
..... Our other neighbor is the principal- he arrived as soon as he got the call and has things calm and under control! The principal made sure my DD was fine, handed her off to the neighbor (she is listed as an emergency contact). I wanted to go myself, but both neighbors said there was enough chaos as it was...I didn't want to add one more car into the mix, and they are only 2 blocks away. So I pace for the 1.5 minutes that it took them to get home!
My DD9 and the neighbor's DD8 are a little shook up, but okay.....thank God for the principal and his calm handling of the incident. Apparently there was a fair amount of chaos before he got there- kids crying, people running around....sirens wailing, etc. He made sure my DD understood what was happening, told the police/fire that she was hard of hearing, and called to make sure everything was okay later! Will be sending HIM a nice card (and letting the superintendent know how well he handled things!)....
.....now, exactly HOW does a large yellow school bus run OVER a PARKED pick up truck?!?
We moved my DD9 from parochial to public school this year because her hearing loss has gotten to the point she just needs more services. SHE is excited about riding the bus for the first time (I, OTH, am terrified about whether the drivers will help her, etc.).....so the ride TO school goes just fine. I rush home from work to meet the bus this afternoon. Bus is scheduled to arrive at 3:29.....at 4:02 I am starting to panic. The neighbor is starting to get edgy, too. Her DD is a year younger, but has been riding the bus for several years and NEVER this late. I have to go and pick up my high schooler and middle schooler or we will NEVER make it to football practice, so I leave the bus stop in the hands of my neighbor. She says she will call as soon as the bus arrives. I am back in 20 minutes.
STILL no bus! Now we are panicked.....neighbor calls the school. There has been an ACCIDENT with the bus in the neighboring subdivision. She rushes off, and I wait at the stop for the kids because one secretary thinks that the kids have been transferred to a new bus but the other is not sure. She quickly calls back- the bus RAN OVER a parked PICKUP! The kids are hot- sat on the bus in 95 degree weather with 105 degree heat index for over an hour, but otherwise fine. Had to wait till the police and fire gave each child the all clear. Our two kids were cleared at 5:04....
..... Our other neighbor is the principal- he arrived as soon as he got the call and has things calm and under control! The principal made sure my DD was fine, handed her off to the neighbor (she is listed as an emergency contact). I wanted to go myself, but both neighbors said there was enough chaos as it was...I didn't want to add one more car into the mix, and they are only 2 blocks away. So I pace for the 1.5 minutes that it took them to get home!
My DD9 and the neighbor's DD8 are a little shook up, but okay.....thank God for the principal and his calm handling of the incident. Apparently there was a fair amount of chaos before he got there- kids crying, people running around....sirens wailing, etc. He made sure my DD understood what was happening, told the police/fire that she was hard of hearing, and called to make sure everything was okay later! Will be sending HIM a nice card (and letting the superintendent know how well he handled things!)....
.....now, exactly HOW does a large yellow school bus run OVER a PARKED pick up truck?!?
. How frightening to have something like that happen on the very first day! I work in a special ed preschool class and many of our kids take the bus to and from school. Our driver gives every parent her cell phone number so they can call her directly if their child is going to be absent or if the bus is late and they're worried. I think the bus is one of the top sources of anxiety for our new parents. But, after they see their child arrive safely a few times, they feel better about it.
