What time does your child have to be at the bus stop?

[FINFAN]

Looking for non-rural stops.Here's the thing, our neighborhood was moved to a new High school this year 3.5 miles further than our last high school ( stupid, I know) anyway, the kids have to be at the bus stop at 6:25, an hour before classes start. The bus was getting them at 6:40, but apparently the driver who goes from the high school to get the kids from the middle school, can't get the middle kids to school in time, so they have decided to get the high school kids early by 15 minutes I think it is ridiculous, we are the furthest from the high school logistically, now the HS kids are sitting at the school 15-20 minutes early doing nothing when they could have had that extra sleep, eat, etc.. The bus was getting the HS kids there on time at the 6:40 pick up so they are not in need of arriving early, but they have to suffer. I called the district and said it was unacceptable that they need to look at the bus routes and reassign a different driver to the middle school route, one that has a shorter timed high school run. Why on earth would you schedule the furthest sections for both high school and middle school to the same driver/bus?
Anyway, I am looking for the situations of others to see how common this is...many would drive their kids to school but it is 30 minutes from our house with traffic..7 miles, but no uncongested route. I understand the need for the timing, but just think they are attempting to solve it in a loser way. Also, they never notified parents of the bus change... told the kids on the bus one afternoon verbally...so if your kid wasn't on the bus that day ( many do not ride home due to sports /activities etc) you had no idea that the next day your kids needed to be out the door 15 min early.

 

[golfgal]

Our bus comes at 6:50. Our kids are the second to last stop before school. Our kids would be thrilled to get to school 15 minutes earlier so they can hang out with their friends so they drive to school and leave at 6:45 so they can get to school earlier and hang out with their friends .

 

[Darcy03231]

I have high school aged children. The bus comes at 6:30 am, school starts at 7:20 am and we live about a 5 min drive from the school. Ours is the first bus stop.

Since DD is 18, a senior and has a car my kids drive to school. DS usually takes the bus home as DD is involved in after school activities.

 

[ajk912]

I wouldn't even bat at an at extra 15 minutes. The high schoolers can sleep on the bus or study or do homework. I definitely wouldn't have called over 15 minutes.

To answer the question, my kids are all in elementary school so they are on the bus at 9:07 and school starts at 9:10. We are the last bus stop. I could walk them, but they really want to ride the bus..and those THREE minutes really make their day.

 

[FINFAN]

ours can't "hang", dumb rules...to make matters worse 1/2 the school isn't even finished yet. DS 1st period class happens to be his elective of power mechanics. No shop room yet...we are in week 4 of school and they cannot do any of the stuff they are supposed to. It's just ridiculous. It was brought to my attention by neighbors who are just as irritated as I am..my son was not on the bus the day they made the announcement, so we missed it, so I am not the only one mad about this. I still do not understand why the furthest sections to both schools are assigned to the same bus. If I did that logistic decision at work, I would have been fired.

 

[3boymthr]

Our oldest gets on the bus at 7:15 - school starts at 7:35. But he is one of the last stops. We live in a town that belongs to a regional Jr HS/HS but the HS is 1.1 miles from our house and the Jr. HS while in another twon is only about 2 miles, if that. He is lucky though. Some of the kids get on the bus as early as 5:45 . NO we don't live in a rural area, just a really really big town. And some of the kids in the other towns have to get on just as early.

My other two get on the but at around 8:00, and school starts at 8:10. I say around because of course today, the bus came at 7:56 and we missed it (we had coats on and were opening the door but she didn't wait the 10 seconds it would take the kids to get out the door ). It's only the first week of school and every other day the bus came at 8:02 . Since I still had to shower so I could get to work they were late .

 

[wildfan1473]

I have elementary aged kids, and they get on the bus at 6:52. They ride that bus for about an hour, than transfer at the MS to their school, which starts at 8:05. We are the 2nd or 3rd stop from the end, but the last stop is only a mile up the road. We have a 1/4 mile walk to the bus stop, too. We live about 12 miles from school, it's about a 15 minute drive for me.

 

[JessicaR]

Way too early!

The HS bus comes at 6:40A and class starts at 7:20A. The bus schedule said p/u at 6:54A, they have been early each day so I'm guessing this will be the set time.

 

[live4christp1]

On the bus at 7:15 AM/off the bus (home) at 5:15 PM. We live right at the time zone line.......so DH & I go by EST as that's where we work......the school is in the CST zone so really it is 6:15 AM on/4:15 PM off according to the school.

 

[powellrj]

Our bus changed this year too. DD is in 8th grade middle school and has ridden the same bus since she started. It use to pick them up at 7:10, now they are picked up at 6:40 and the bus gets to school at 7:10. Classes start at 7:30. They dismiss the busses at 7:20 so the kids just sit there for 10 minutes in the parking lot.

We live exactly 1 mile door to door from the school, so its only a 5 minute drive for me. Its a pain the neck, but I have started taking her and a friend who lives in the next addition. Its too dark for her to walk 2 blocks and stand alone at a bus stop in the dark.

 

[barkley]

ours is the first stop in the morning-the last in the afternoon (they reverse directions for pick up and drop off). pick-up is 7:04 a.m., school starts at 8:00 a.m.. they get out at 3:00, get home at 4:10. according to dd they just get to school in time for first period.

i would prefer she got there 10-15 minutes early so she could put stuff in her locker or retrieve stuff from it. when i was a kid i rode the bus and we left around 6:45 a.m. and got to school around 7:45 for an 8:00 start time. it was'nt a problem for us we liked getting to school a bit early. i know with the bus when i was a kid they had to 'pad' the travel time because of the driving route we used and potential delays-because of laws that applied to busses that regular car drivers did'nt have to adhere to.

 

[agnes!]

I have no idea when DD's bus comes anymore because I take her to HS. We are maybe 5 or 10 minutes drive-time away and for her to catch the bus in the morning, she'd have to get up at 5:30 or so. Ugh. So I take her to school and she gets an extra 1/2 hour of sleep that she wouldn't get otherwise. DD does ride the bus home, says she's one of the few juniors on the bus, but I don't know how these other juniors afford the parking passes - price is now up to $200/year.

Anyway, her stop used to be the last in the morning and first in the afternoon but last year the HS added another stop (maybe about a 1 1/2 block away?) because some kids didn't want to walk to the usual stop (and they were apparently getting to school late). So the additional stop then in effect rescheduled every other bus-stop that came before it. Made it so those kids had to now be at the stop just that much earlier. What's ironic is that I don't even think the family of kids who are supposed to take the bus in the morning even do so any more. All that shuffling for basically *nothing*.

The thing that drives me crazy is that as the year goes on the buses in the morning get to their stops earlier and earlier. Your stop is scheduled at 6:30 but the bus gets there at 6:20? Too bad, you're going to miss the bus if you show up at the scheduled-time.

Another fun thing is that the school has to start 10 minutes earlier than last year because the school-day wasn't technically long enough for the Feds. The kids don't actually get any additional instruction-time though, *just* a few meaningless bits of extra time between classes and at lunch.

agnes!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

You say they cannot "hang"? Are they allowed inside the building? I would have a problem if the school was not open and they had to wait outside.

 

[Pigeon]

My jr. high kid's bus is supposed to come at 6:50, but he's been randomly 10-15 minutes early and half the kids miss the bus. My elementary kid's bus comes at 7:53 and he's pretty good. I don't know what I'm going to do if the older one misses the bus because I have to get the younger one ready, and I've heard it takes 45 minutes to drop off at the jr. high because they have a really crappy driveway access, and you can't stop on the street.

I have to get up at 5:15 to get me ready for work and the older one up, and it's 8:30 by the time I get to work. I feel like I've put in a full day at that point.

 

[FINFAN]

You say they cannot "hang"? Are they allowed inside the building? I would have a problem if the school was not open and they had to wait outside.

they are allowed in, but to the locker area...restricted areas, socializing is kept to a minimum...very odd in school boundaries since there are construction workers there daily( don't egt me started on the noise/distraction factor) ...I get the safety issue, but man, do not open the school if you can't run it properly.

 

[shortbun]

My first pickup is at 6:10am. School starts at 7:30am. Most of my high schoolers sleep.

 

[barkley]

they are allowed in, but to the locker area...restricted areas, socializing is kept to a minimum...very odd in school boundaries since there are construction workers there daily( don't egt me started on the noise/distraction factor) ...I get the safety issue, but man, do not open the school if you can't run it properly.

watch out what you wish for.

a friend teaches at a high school. a few years ago the school decided to do minor renovations over the summer and uncovered a big issue that needed to be addressed. the parents and staff successfully fought with the district to delay opening the school until repairs were done (no option of putting the staff/students in an alternate location). did'nt seem like a 'biggie', school was just going to be delayed a month 'or so', they would shorten some breaks, eliminate a few in-service days so they would only extend the year a few weeks. construction being construction it took more time than anticipated so school started 2 months late. even with the time they added to the school year school would'nt be able to get out till the end of june/begining of july, AND they forgot about the issue with seniors. seniors need grades and grad information by certain times in the year to qualify for college admission. the juniors and some of the sophmores were affected too-not many places that hire students over the summer are keen on doing it when they know those kids will not be able to start when the rest of the new staff is brought in (for training). some of the teachers who worked summer jobs found their jobs not waiting for them either.

ended up being a logistical nightmare.

now that highschool is considering changing their school year all together to save $$$ (start later in the year to save on a/c costs)-school district learned from it's past experience, sez they won't do a change unless they can hammer out the details and give staff/students/parents A YEAR'S advance notice.

 

[pozey]

they are allowed in, but to the locker area...restricted areas, socializing is kept to a minimum...very odd in school boundaries since there are construction workers there daily( don't egt me started on the noise/distraction factor) ...I get the safety issue, but man, do not open the school if you can't run it properly.

I think this is becoming the norm more and more...

I don't have a high schooler, but my son is in 8th grade. They open the school at 7:15, classes begin at 7:45. But from 7:15 until 7:40 all students must stay in a certain area...And they can't hang out OUTSIDE the building.

 

[PatsMom]

When my daughter was in high school she had to be at the bus stop at 6:05. She was one of the first pick ups. School started at 7:20. She was usually there around 10 minutes of 7 giving her half an hour to eat breakfast, hang out, etc. Reason for the early pick up was so the bus would be able to return to town to pick up the elementary school kids on time.

She was very glad when she got her drivers license and could start sleeping later. She could leave the house at the time she used to arrive at school and still be a bit early!

 

[HM]

My kid's bus schedule changed this year too.
HS starts at 7:30.

Our stop used to be one of the last stops in the morning and the first stop in the afternoon. They've added a few more stops and changed the route, so that they are the last stop in the afternoon and one of the middle stops in the morning.

I drive my kids to school (always have) so that they can get some extra sleep and not have to catch the 6:30 bus; we leave home at 6:55 (10-15 drive) to miss the ungodly traffic crush that happens every day before school. In the afternoon, their bus leaves the lot at 2:35 and they used to get home at 2:45, now it's 3:20. The kids are not happy. They try to find reasons to stay at school, so that I will have to pick them up.