What ever happened to taking the bus to school?

[binny]

I must say, I do feel for those who have no bus service. What about parents who work or single parents? It must be hard to try and juggle the pick up/drop off in some situations...particularly when it's forced.

Most of the schools here have before and after school care that is fairly reasonable.
I have had to use it once and it was $16 for both kids for 2 hours (so $4.00/hour per kid) after school. Ours happens to be a particularly great program, I dont know about any of the rest though.

 

[cheermom1]

My kids don't ride the bus but we only live 4 blocks from the school..however I always rode the bus when I was kid, no problem...I would also like to say I have never heard of buses just for certain ages or grades, we have always had kids from K-12 on the buses...anything else just seems weird to me...

 

[pilesoflaundry]

I think a lot of budget cuts are causing reduced service and kids have to get up earlier/get home later if they ride the bus.

My kids do ride the bus but they have to get up much earlier than if they were car riders. The bus picks up right about 7, school starts at 8.

 

[dis75ney]

DS's elementary school is located on a cul-de-sac and the only children allowed to walk/bike to and from school are those that live on said cul-de-sac or on the one street that shoots off from the cul-de-sac (this street has maybe four houses total). All other children, regardless of how far away from the school they live, either take the normal school bus, are bussed to before/after school programs, or have the parents pick up. When DS goes to high school, he'll either be bussed or driven, as the only way to the school is on roads with cars zipping past at 50+ MPH and no sidewalks...I walk everywhere and I won't even walk on those streets...

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

We don't live within walking distance of our schools. The buses come so early that my DS11 would have to get up at 5:30 to get on the bus to be at school an hour before it starts. My DS10 would get to school an hour early, too. I don't have that much trouble getting them to school in the car and they do take the bus home.

When I grew up there was an elementary school in every neighborhood, so I was walking to school when I was in kindergarten, about 3/10ths of a mile. MS and HS were just short of a mile, so I didn't get to ride the bus. I walked to school and never thought twice about it. My mom did pick me up if it was raining.

 

[Trish Bessette]

I must say, I do feel for those who have no bus service. What about parents who work or single parents? It must be hard to try and juggle the pick up/drop off in some situations...particularly when it's forced.

Thank you for writing this! I am one of those families. Our county has no high school so the kids get to choose where they want to go. 30 mile drive one way!!! My DD is a sophmore in high school and for the past year and a half I've been bringing her and two other kids into school each morning. Having to leave at 6:45 am to get everyone - drop off at school and make it to work for 8. A HUGH pain!!

I'm happy to say we bought DD a used car last week and she drove to school today for her very first time!

 

[bethbuchall]

My kids don't ride the bus but we only live 4 blocks from the school..however I always rode the bus when I was kid, no problem...I would also like to say I have never heard of buses just for certain ages or grades, we have always had kids from K-12 on the buses...anything else just seems weird to me...

That depends on how your schools are set up. We have three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school in the district. These schools are not located next to each other, so they need to have different buses for elementary (K-5), middle school (6-8), and high school (9-12) students.

Our elementary school is very close to our house, so ds walks unless the weather is really bad or he has something large/heavy to take to school. He always walks home, because he can change out of wet clothes unlike at school. If the weather is severe (thunderstorms) at dismissal, they'll hold the walkers until it passes.

We drive dd to the high school every other day, because she has zero period gym. The buses do not get to the school in time. Fortunately, dh drives by the school on his way to work anyway. The other days she rides the bus to school, and she always rides the bus home (unless she has an appointment or needs to stay after school).

 

[jrmasm]

Our school district is almost completely bussed. The thought never occured to me not to put my children on the bus.

 

[laurie31]

My kids don't ride the bus but we only live 4 blocks from the school..however I always rode the bus when I was kid, no problem...I would also like to say I have never heard of buses just for certain ages or grades, we have always had kids from K-12 on the buses...anything else just seems weird to me...

I don't know if that's regional or even totally different in every school district, but I've lived in 3 different school districts, and had never heard of high school and elementary kids sharing a bus. No way would I let DD ride if that were the case!

I thought about how it would work here, logistically. We have only one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school, but they are nowhere near each other. If one bus had to go to all three schools to pick up kids, it would be nearly an hour after school let out before the bus even STARTED taking the kids home. It would mean some kids would be on the bus for 2 hours, and the kids at the school where pick-up was last would have to wait 45 minutes after school was out to get on the bus. Who would supervise them all that time? It never occurred to me that in some towns the schools would be close enough together for one bus to pick up from several schools. Besides, our elementary school alone fills 6 buses. I can't imagine squishing older kids on there too.

Also, our bus drops off in front of each house; there are no bus stops. So DD is dropped off at our front door. We did have had a one time incident of bullying when she was in 2nd grade, but after I notified the school it never happened again. Our principal doesn't put up with that, and our bus driver is good, too. If that weren't the case, I would have second thoughts about the bus.

It's really interesting to hear the ways school is "done" in different places. Most interesting to me is the different start and ending times. I'm 42, and when I was a child,. school was 8-3, and now for my kids, it's 8-3. I just assumed that was standard everywhere. I had never heard of anything different except here on the DIS.

 

[Jennasis]

Most of the schools here have before and after school care that is fairly reasonable.
I have had to use it once and it was $16 for both kids for 2 hours (so $4.00/hour per kid) after school. Ours happens to be a particularly great program, I dont know about any of the rest though.

Wow! Sounds like a great program.



I also had never heard (until this thread) of kids in K-12 being on the bus together. In my experience it was always elementary on one bus, middle school on another, junior high on another and HS on another.

 

[ReneeA]

Our district cut bussing the year before my DS started kindergarten. The school district put it to a vote - sports or bussing. Sports won, so we no longer have bussing. We drive our kids to and from school.

 

[FireDancer]

Growing up we always lived too close to the school for busing so we were either dropped off or walked. The only exception was kindergarten because all kids are guaranteed bus service since our district is half day only.

Our school districts around here also like to withhold busing as a way to pass levies that the voters turn down. They usually go with that and then making sports pay to play.

 

[ReneeA]

I must say, I do feel for those who have no bus service. What about parents who work or single parents? It must be hard to try and juggle the pick up/drop off in some situations...particularly when it's forced.

I use the child care after school on days it's needed (I work 3 days a week, and some weekends, so it's pretty rare)...it ends up being $7.00 an hour for both kids to attend.

Mornings are my problem. I work 7a-7:30p, and childcare doesn't open up until 7. DH leaves for work at 6am sometimes. My FIL comes to my house at 6:15am on days like today when DH & I both had work 1st thing. I make sure that everything's done and he just has to make sure kids are fed, dressed, and teeth brushed before dropping them off. I feel bad, though because he normally doesn't get out of bed until after 8. I owe him...bigtime.

 

[m&amom]

Our buses hold K-12 in order to make this work our schools get out at different times. Grade schools get out at 2:45, middle school at 3:00 and High School at 3:15. My daughter, 4th grade, gets dropped off in the morning by me because it is next to the daycare and she rides the bus afterschool to the High School were I work and waits for me to get off. Our school does have a program in place were some of the teachers for pre-K K and 1st grade ride the bus to the middle school with the kids and help them transfer to their next bus to go home.

 

[golfgal]

Wow! Sounds like a great program.



I also had never heard (until this thread) of kids in K-12 being on the bus together. In my experience it was always elementary on one bus, middle school on another, junior high on another and HS on another.

You see it more frequently in rural areas where running 3 bus runs doesn't make sense. Our old town was like this, k-12 on the same bus. Our kids walked to school so it wasn't a big deal for us. Most of the time the bus driver would separate--or more likely the kids--so the older kids were in the back and the younger kids in the front. It wasn't a huge issue but all of the schools started at the same time and it didn't make financial sense to run 3 bus runs.

Our town now has separate bus runs for the elementary, middle and high schools and I think it is a huge waste of money personally. They could easily run the middle and high school routes together, especially since a large portion of the high school drives to school.

 

[zachnsamsmommy]

I grew up riding the bus, until I was old enough to drive...and never thought anything other than that when putting my DS, who is almost 9, on the bus.

However, our school start times are staggered...elem starts at 7:45, middle and high at 8:30, so only K-5 ride the bus together and 6-12th. I don't know if I would let DS ride it if it had all the way to 12th on the bus.

It is nice b/c I don't have to wake up my 2 yr old to get the older one to school. Also, the car lines at school are crazy...I avoid it at all costs...

 

[cheermom1]

I don't know if that's regional or even totally different in every school district, but I've lived in 3 different school districts, and had never heard of high school and elementary kids sharing a bus. No way would I let DD ride if that were the case!

I thought about how it would work here, logistically. We have only one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school, but they are nowhere near each other. If one bus had to go to all three schools to pick up kids, it would be nearly an hour after school let out before the bus even STARTED taking the kids home. It would mean some kids would be on the bus for 2 hours, and the kids at the school where pick-up was last would have to wait 45 minutes after school was out to get on the bus. Who would supervise them all that time? It never occurred to me that in some towns the schools would be close enough together for one bus to pick up from several schools. Besides, our elementary school alone fills 6 buses. I can't imagine squishing older kids on there too.

Also, our bus drops off in front of each house; there are no bus stops. So DD is dropped off at our front door. We did have had a one time incident of bullying when she was in 2nd grade, but after I notified the school it never happened again. Our principal doesn't put up with that, and our bus driver is good, too. If that weren't the case, I would have second thoughts about the bus.

It's really interesting to hear the ways school is "done" in different places. Most interesting to me is the different start and ending times. I'm 42, and when I was a child,. school was 8-3, and now for my kids, it's 8-3. I just assumed that was standard everywhere. I had never heard of anything different except here on the DIS.

in the biggest town next to us (I went there as a kid) and they have several elm. schools and middle schools, two high schools..it depended on where you live not the school you went too...so say you have an elem. kid a middle school kid and a high school kid, they all rode the same bus from your house to the nearest school than a bus from the school that you go to will pick you up there and take you to the other schools...however we have a couple of elm. schools that are near the high school and one middle school so they just drop them off there since they are so close...does that make since?

 

[PrincessV]

Huh - am I really the only here one with this situation? My DS doesn't take the bus because he's not old enough to be home alone and the bus comes after I've gone to work and drops off long before I get home. Before and after school care is at his school, but no bussing for it; I drop off and pick up on my way to and from work.

 

[Darsa]

Our district cut bussing the year before my DS started kindergarten. The school district put it to a vote - sports or bussing. Sports won, so we no longer have bussing. We drive our kids to and from school.

Wow...

 

[sbell111]

If a parent is available to do the job, I see no downside to driving the child to school.