I am furious with the school LONG UPDATE LAST PAGE

[Alicnwondrln]

Does anybody EVER park along the edge of the circle?

Don't blame the busses, blame the people who make them have to consider where they can drive without getting stuck.

And many kids in my area have to walk at least two blocks to he stop.

no the sac is empty
no one parks there
there are no house around it
we are a dead end and the circle is at the end of the street
theres no reason they cant come down here
esp after what the bus company told me
they just dont want to

 

[Marseeya]

and if I had a 6 year old like the OP I would be driving to the stop !!

OP If you drive and they send you another letter.....send them a policy letter from your family.....(styled after their no culdesac letter) letting them know that it is not your family policy to alllow a 6 year old walk to and wait unattended to a bus stop!!

She should do that anyway!

Even when we lived in a pedophile-free (hopefully) neighborhood, everyone walked their kids to the stop. The only kids you see unattended at the stops are high school kids and some middle school bus stops.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I would drive him to the stop. They don't let a bus go down a cul-de-sac.

Why can't they stop at the top of the street again?

 

[Alicnwondrln]

and if I had a 6 year old like the OP I would be driving to the stop !!

OP If you drive and they send you another letter.....send them a policy letter from your family.....(styled after their no culdesac letter) letting them know that it is not your family policy to alllow a 6 year old walk to and wait unattended to a bus stop!!

when i called the super i told i would driving to the stop and they can get over it he was like well let me speak with everyone and get back to you
shawn has the longest walk to the stop that they can think if
if not the longest in Burlington

 

[Alicnwondrln]

She should do that anyway!

Even when we lived in a pedophile-free (hopefully) neighborhood, everyone walked their kids to the stop. The only kids you see unattended at the stops are high school kids and some middle school bus stops.

its funny cuz i am the ONLY one out there
all the other moms just watch from there window or from inside there porches cuz they are so close

 

[The Mystery Machine]

when i called the super i told i would driving to the stop and they can get over it he was like well let me speak with everyone and get back to you
shawn has the longest walk to the stop that they can think if
if not the longest in Burlington

So they are telling you you cannot drive to a stop??? That is stupid.

 

[Alicnwondrln]

I would drive him to the stop. They don't let a bus go down a cul-de-sac.

Why can't they stop at the top of the street again?

if they stopped at the top of my street they would have to drive down it to turn around so
i understand what they are ssaying about the culdesac but should have said that from the start not now very poor communication by this man

 

[bananiem]

I do walk him and if it was clsoer i would walk him to
i dont have an issue walking him

Then what was the issue you had in the first place that made you contact the bus company?

 

[allie&mattsmom]

If you had a pedophile in your neighborhood, it would be done.

That's exactly why my kids won't walk 2 1/2 blocks to the bus stop in the am alone. How would I know if they really actually made it to school? Not too far from here a couple of years ago there was a little girl who was walking to her bus stop. She never showed up at school and by the time anyone knew she had been missing for hours. Turns out a couple of guys who'd been out drinking all night pulled her in their van...and well, you can guess the rest. Ever since I heard this, there's no way I'd let my kids walk by themselves to the bus stop. I'll either walk with them, drive them or drive them the extra mile to school.

 

[Marseeya]

But see, how many busses are out there on the roads for every school in your school system? If they make a change like that for you, they're going to have to make a zillion other changes, and the "2 min" addition to your bus's route just turned into an additional 2 hours.

This isn't the same situation at all, but at two of the different neighborhoods we've lived in, we were able to get a bus driver to stop closer to where we lived. (not just us alone, but several families). At one stop, several kids lived closer to one corner where the driver passed, so parents & kids just started standing there. Now all the kids go to that stop rather than the one farther away, so it's no longer an "extra" stop. At another neighborhood, one woman just asked him to stop closer to our houses and he did. That one did turn into an "extra" stop, but it must have been okay with him.

I bet if we'd all tried to go through the transportation supervisor, he would have said no.

 

[Alicnwondrln]

Then what was the issue you had in the first place that made you contact the bus company?

I originally contacted to as iwas told it was a safety issue for him to walk that far
then the car thing with them saying they want parents to walk to the stop not drive as cars can get in the wya
well im osrry but it was 11 degrees to day and pushing my 20 month in the stroller everyda in the cold to the bus stop aint gonna happen
last week it rained 3 days i mean poured that wasnt fun, adn yesterday it snowed
im sorry but if they arent gonna move the stop im driving
they also should have never called me saying they were moving the stop and now just snatch it away

 

[JuliaEeyore]

...we were able to get a bus driver to stop closer to where we lived. (not just us alone, but several families).

That's funny! But it makes sense. And if the bus driver was OK adapting, great!

 

[Wishing on a star]

No way could a bus turn around on our cul-de-sac!!!
You have to remember that busses are nearly twice as long as the Gas trucks!
(A large fire truck would be a special case, not a daily occurance)

And, no way could the bus be insured of being able to turn around on private property. Cars could be parked there, or whatever. Also, the bus company could be held liable for any intrusion on to private property. Even the OP's. What if it damaged a vehicle, or landscaping, trying to maneuver.

I am so sorry that the OP is in the situation of having to walk/drive her child to the bus stop. that is unfortunate, but is the harsh reality. The same reason that the OP probably enjoys living where she does, away from main roads and traffic, is the very reason that she is in this situation.

I drive my DS to school every single morning. And it is not because the bus could never come down to my house. It is because the freaking bus runs at the crack of dawn, nearly a full hour before I have to get DS to school. (They corral the kids into the gym every morning until all the teachers arrive and the bell rings)

 

[JimB.]

If I can drive a fire truck down a cul de sac, then a school bus can make it too.

It's a bad excuse for laziness.

 

[jgmklmhem]

I lived on a cul-de-sac all of my schooling life and I always road the bus. We always had to walk to the end of the street or to the street behind our house (it was a through street). They definately should not have led you along. What I do not get....maybe I am missing something....but can they move your stop to the end of your street (where the cul-de-sac street meets the main road). Although that might still be a hike it would be better.

 

[Alicnwondrln]

If I can drive a fire truck down a cul de sac, then a school bus can make it too.

It's a bad excuse for laziness.

both mine and DH gramps were firefighters and so is my uncle
my uncle said the same thing
its an excuse
it thats the only reason why didnt someone say that months ago

 

[bananiem]

I originally contacted to as iwas told it was a safety issue for him to walk that far
then the car thing with them saying they want parents to walk to the stop not drive as cars can get in the wya
well im osrry but it was 11 degrees to day and pushing my 20 month in the stroller everyda in the cold to the bus stop aint gonna happen
last week it rained 3 days i mean poured that wasnt fun, adn yesterday it snowed
im sorry but if they arent gonna move the stop im driving
they also should have never called me saying they were moving the stop and now just snatch it away

Well, I guess I don't understand how it's a safety issue if you're with him. I also don't think it's the school district's fault you have a 20 month old to take with you. They can't stop in front of every single student's house.

 

[Alicnwondrln]

I lived on a cul-de-sac all of my schooling life and I always road the bus. We always had to walk to the end of the street or to the street behind our house (it was a through street). They definately should not have led you along. What I do not get....maybe I am missing something....but can they move your stop to the end of your street (where the cul-de-sac street meets the main road). Although that might still be a hike it would be better.

unfortunaetly my street is like a backwards L the culdesac is at the end of the street there are no houses around it
if they came to the top of my street then they would have to come down the street and turn around
so they wont do it

 

[Alicnwondrln]

Well, I guess I don't understand how it's a safety issue if you're with him. I also don't think it's the school district's fault you have a 20 month old to take with you. They can't stop in front of every single student's house.

its not there fault at all i have a 20th month old but dont tell me i cant drive to the stop with my kids and that i have to walk
walking to the stop in the cold with the boys isnt an option to me
edited to add i walked at fall and will walk again in the spring but wont in the winter

 

[jgmklmhem]

If I can drive a fire truck down a cul de sac, then a school bus can make it too.

It's a bad excuse for laziness.

It isn't laziness. It is whether or not making the trip up the circle is time efficient. For one or two kids it just isn't time efficient to do it and then if you make an exception for one or two you have to do it for all kids who live on circles. Then you have to either buy more buses or make the routes uber-long which is terrible on the kids who have to be one there for that long. Remember the bus driver isn't the only one effected here. It is all the kids who have to take the extra time. In the neighborhood I grew up in there are approximately 10 circles. Assuming it only would take 2 extra minutes to go up each that is now an extra 20 minutes to the route which could already be an hour long.