Bus stop locations for public schools

[Wendy]

I am new to the public school thing. I am curious how far your children travel to get to a bus stop. I have 2 elementary age children and one in pre k. I am not sure that I am totally against the walk, unless it is freezing or storming but the location we have is horrible, in my opinion. I do walk with my children to and from the bus stop each day, unless something out of my control happens. The beginning of the school year brought on some violent illnesses in our home. Each of my children have had strep throat along with vomiting and 104 fevers, at least once. I have been unable to meet the bus a couple days due to one of my children's illnesses. Then you have to decide, do you leave a vomiting child alone or let your other kids walk home alone.

What do you think is a reasonable distance?

Should young children be crossing streets?

Walking on streets without sidewalks?

I am not sure if I am bellyaching over nothing, maybe I am a bit too overprotective..

I realize my parents walked both ways up hill in the snow....

 

[~Rocco~]

I am new to the public school thing. I am curious how far your children travel to get to a bus stop. I have 2 elementary age children and one in pre k. I am not sure that I am totally against the walk, unless it is freezing or storming but the location we have is horrible, in my opinion. I do walk with my children to and from the bus stop each day, unless something out of my control happens. The beginning of the school year brought on some violent illnesses in our home. Each of my children have had strep throat along with vomiting and 104 fevers, at least once. I have been unable to meet the bus a couple days due to one of my children's illnesses. Then you have to decide, do you leave a vomiting child alone or let your other kids walk home alone.

What do you think is a reasonable distance?

Should young children be crossing streets?

Walking on streets without sidewalks?

I am not sure if I am bellyaching over nothing, maybe I am a bit too overprotective..

I realize my parents walked both ways up hill in the snow....

Like you I am also 'very protective' of my child, that is not a bad thing though imvho.

In our Texas neighborhood just two years ago an 8 year old girl was hit by a vehicle while she was crossing the street on her bicycle just 2 blocks away from the elementary school. Thankfully she only suffered very minor injuries, but these things can & do happen.

I have always taken my son to school in the mornings and my wife picks him up after school because our personal schedules allow us to able to do so, but clearly many parents nowadays do not have that luxury.

I for one do not think that very young children should be walking to school by themselves or crossing streets without supervision, but that's just my opinion. Best of luck to you whatever you decide.

 

[dklaiman]

I'm sorry to hear about your kids' health. I hope they're feeling better now.

You don't indicate how far your children have to walk to the bus stop. In our neighborhood (without sidewalks), none of the bus stops are more than 150 yards away from a house. Some of the elementary aged kids do need to cross the street to get to the bus. In other neighborhoods, some of the kids need to walk up to 1/2 a mile. It just depends on how easily the bus will be able to turn around if it needs to and the number of kids it's picking up at a specific stop.

We had a bad winter a few years ago and our roads were covered with ice. In that situation, my wife called the transportation company and they moved the stop so our kids didn't have to walk as far on the ice covered roads in the dark. I don't think they would have done that if the roads were safer to walk on.

You may want to call the bus company and see if they'll work with you. If it's an issue of moving a stop for several children, you'll probably be more succesful.

Finally, when it comes down to leaving a sick kid at home or not meeting the bus, I suppose that comes down to the age and maturity of the individual children. In our neighborhood, quite a few parents drive to the bus stop and wait for it if they have a sick kid at home or the weather is horrible.

 

[Wendy]

I'm sorry to hear about your kids' health. I hope they're feeling better now.

You don't indicate how far your children have to walk to the bus stop. In our neighborhood (without sidewalks), none of the bus stops are more than 150 yards away from a house. Some of the elementary aged kids do need to cross the street to get to the bus. In other neighborhoods, some of the kids need to walk up to 1/2 a mile. It just depends on how easily the bus will be able to turn around if it needs to and the number of kids it's picking up at a specific stop.

We had a bad winter a few years ago and our roads were covered with ice. In that situation, my wife called the transportation company and they moved the stop so our kids didn't have to walk as far on the ice covered roads in the dark. I don't think they would have done that if the roads were safer to walk on.

You may want to call the bus company and see if they'll work with you. If it's an issue of moving a stop for several children, you'll probably be more succesful.

Finally, when it comes down to leaving a sick kid at home or not meeting the bus, I suppose that comes down to the age and maturity of the individual children. In our neighborhood, quite a few parents drive to the bus stop and wait for it if they have a sick kid at home or the weather is horrible.

All of the bus stops in our school district are approximately 2/10th of a mile unless they children are in a walk zone. They are required to walk further but have adults along the entire way to stop traffic and assist them crossing the road. I guess I would not mind if they had to walk even further, but the stop is odd to me. We live in a culdesac. The bus enters our subdivision on the backside, when they enter they come to the top of our culdesac, but it is on the opposite side of the road. They will not pick up our kids here though. Even though there is a stop sign they stop at anyway. The bus circles the neighborhood and comes back through, once again passing our culdesac on the way out. There are 6 children on our culdessac that could utilize the stop across the street, or the bus could even stop at the top of our street. Instead our children walk to the end or our street, hang a right, walk down the main throughway of the neighborhood, a very busy street, sidewalks are not available for most of the walk because the neighborhood is not completely developed. This give two options, walk in the street at 7:30 am, when the sun is so bad in the drivers eyes, or walk in mud, rock and overgrown empty lots. After they get about 5 house lengths down the busy road they cross to the other side of the road to stand at the top of another culdesac. One thing I did fail to mention, the bus goes down a road to pick up one child in front of her house. They say this is a centralized location in case someone moves in at the furthest parcel. So our bus picks up one child who could walk 1/10th of a mile, out of a culdesac that has sidewalks but our children can walk 2/10th without sidewalks on a very busy road. I think the rules should be in place for all students in the district.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Like you I am also 'very protective' of my child, that is not a bad thing though imvho.

In our Texas neighborhood just two years ago an 8 year old girl was hit by a vehicle while she was crossing the street on her bicycle just 2 blocks away from the elementary school. Thankfully she only suffered very minor injuries, but these things can & do happen.

I have always taken my son to school in the mornings and my wife picks him up after school because our personal schedules allow us to able to do so, but clearly many parents nowadays do not have that luxury.

I for one do not think that very young children should be walking to school by themselves or crossing streets without supervision, but that's just my opinion. Best of luck to you whatever you decide.

What shocked me when I moved here (the mid-cities) is the total lack of sidewalks. Kids are forced to walk on the street, until they are on the same block of the school.

 

[Go West Young Man]

We took 2 buses and a subway to school by ourselves every day starting in the second grade.

 

[~Rocco~]

What shocked me when I moved here (the mid-cities) is the total lack of sidewalks. Kids are forced to walk on the street, until they are on the same block of the school.

There are still some areas like that in my neighborhood as well, fortunately the majority of the public schools out here do indeed have sidewalks leading from the residences to and from the schoolgrounds.

 

[Not The Original Kermit]

When I was a kid, we took public transportation, freezing my a** off at a bus stop every winter is ingrained in my wonderful childhood memories.

My son is in a special school and I'm lucky enough that they provide door to door transportation

 

[Doc4]

We took 2 buses and a subway to school by ourselves every day starting in the second grade.

When I was a kid, we took public transportation, freezing my a** off at a bus stop every winter is ingrained in my wonderful childhood memories.

From grade 1 onward, I was responsible for walking to and from school myself (all be it in a small town so traffic wasn't too heavy.)

It's interesting to see how attitudes change over time about such things ... I think we used to expect much more self-sufficiency out of our children in terms of making their way about the neighbourhood ... perhaps too much, at times.

 

[Doc4]

What do you think is a reasonable distance?

Should young children be crossing streets?

Walking on streets without sidewalks?

I am not sure if I am bellyaching over nothing, maybe I am a bit too overprotective..

I realize my parents walked both ways up hill in the snow....

"reasonable distance" depends on the child, really ... some can handle more than others, and they all generally improve as they get older.

Crossing streets and sidewalk-less streets ... well, "it depends" ... on the intersection, on the street, and on the child. Lots of residential streets don't have sidewalks and lines down the middle ... but they are pretty quiet, and meant to be shared between cars, bikes, pedestrians &c ... but I wouldn't want kids walking down busy thoroughfares that lack sidewalks because pedestrians are not expected to be there.

It's a tricky balancing act, trying to get your kids to gradually adapt to the big, bad, adult world around them, pushing thier (and your) comfort zone as to what they can handle, but not pushing too fast.

 

[one cut]

Well I had to walk three miles to school every day ( up hill both ways ) I got baked in the summer rained on in the fall and snowed on in the winter.
in some ways I think I lerned more walking threw the woods than i did in school.

 

[Wendy]

Well I had to walk three miles to school every day ( up hill both ways ) I got baked in the summer rained on in the fall and snowed on in the winter.
in some ways I think I lerned more walking threw the woods than i did in school.

I guess so, by the time you got home you had to go to bed so you could get up and go again. No time for homework. : )

 

[one cut]

it does not take that long to walk to walk such a distance if you do it every day, what I really can't get people to believe is the things we used to take to school that upset no one. like a ice axe for walking up the Grossall trail in winter that was normal, you could use ski poles to like the girl's did but we liked the Ice axe. or knives because we were boys and sometimes people would bring hunting rifle or shotguns. You just gave them to the teacher and they stood in the corner of the classroom,
you could not do it today.

 

[Rockminer]

Not sure I should bring this up, but there is the ugly side of society. The most recent being the young girl in colorado. ( looks like they have found a body, believed to be her ) It seems to be harder, now days, to give children the same independence that we had as children. OP I would leave the vomiting kid and accompany your kids home. Being overprotective is far better than the potential alternative.

 

[Wendy]

Being overprotective is far better than the potential alternative.

I am probably a bit too overprotective, I know my kids are very street smart, but at the same time, extremely shy, this may overpower the street smarts. The most frustrating part for me with the bus stop is that the bus stops at the top of my street already, why not open the door and let the 6 kids that live in our culdesac on the bus. I hate to think the transportation department will act in a reactive manner rather than proactive.

 

[Rockminer]

Wendy;

Take this with a grain of salt as I never rode the bus. Have you tried to contact the transportation dept. about your concerns? If so, what was their reasoning? I'm assuming they have a list of kids that they are responsible for picking up. Are all six kids there every time the bus comes to your culdesac, the first time. Maybe you could get the parents on your street to press for a change? Maybe talk to the bus driver?

 

[Wendy]

Wendy;

Take this with a grain of salt as I never rode the bus. Have you tried to contact the transportation dept. about your concerns? If so, what was their reasoning? I'm assuming they have a list of kids that they are responsible for picking up. Are all six kids there every time the bus comes to your culdesac, the first time. Maybe you could get the parents on your street to press for a change? Maybe talk to the bus driver?

Wendy;

Take this with a grain of salt as I never rode the bus. Have you tried to contact the transportation dept. about your concerns? If so, what was their reasoning? I'm assuming they have a list of kids that they are responsible for picking up. Are all six kids there every time the bus comes to your culdesac, the first time. Maybe you could get the parents on your street to press for a change? Maybe talk to the bus driver?

There have been several appeals to this particular bus stop. I know of at least 4, that is just the ones I know of, this is not the first year they have had complaints either from what my neighbors have told me. The bus used to stop at the location we are requesting but stopped picking up children there two years ago when two of the children in the culdesac switched to a private school and two went to home schooling. At that time they told the one remaining family that there were no longer enough kids to justify a stop. There would have only been 2 children, one in elementary and one in middle school. Since then, I have moved in with three children, two are elementary and one will be next year, she is currently pre-k. My neighbors to the left of me now have a kindergartner attending and a neighbor at the top of the hill that has moved in has two elementary aged children, 1st & 2nd grade. So that brings us to 6 current elementary and next school year it will be 8, I am not sure how many middle and high school kids, they both catch the 615 bus, I only know of 5. The kids that are in middle and high school catch the same bus.

All of the appeals were rejected and we were allowed to send in written appeal, to appeal the director of transportation's decision. Several of us followed through to that extent. The response was that the bus stops are centralized throughout the neighborhood. This I can understand, what I cannot wrap my head around is our bus picks up a child in front of her house, she is the only one that rides our 730am bus in that location the earlier route at 615am picks up her sister who attends middle school, that is it.

This bus stop could be eliminated if it is an issue of time, she could walk to the stop we are currently using, which is less than 1/10th of a mile from her home and she can remain on a sidewalk. The bus turns down her street which is a culdesac, she is the only child that gets on. She could walk out of her culdesac to the top of her street which would be the bus stop we currently utilize. Eliminating the stop for this one child would shave 4-5 minutes off of the morning and afternoon route. The bus garage justifies this stop because there are houses beyond hers. They say that they have to supply a bus stop within 2/10th of a mile from each parcel in the neighborhood. I do understand this, but I think rules are made to be broken, I do not feel we need a bus stop "just in case someone moves in tomorrow" In reality, there is only one house that would be affected and be outside of the 2/10ths of a mile rule if they eliminated her stop. This home does not have school aged children, their children are grown and they have no intentions of selling. The bus garage rebuttals with "well they could sell it tomorrow" I asked could we make an adjustment for the 6+ children until that would happen, at least it gives us some more time, maybe by the time these people sell their house the rest of the neighborhood would be developed and sidewalks would be available. The one house in question is at the furthest edge of our neighborhood it is the only house that is outside the 2/10ths of a mile rule, if that bus stop was eliminated. I think the distance is debatable anyway, it depends where you measure from, the bus garage must be using their front porch, I used the street, if it is over, it cannot be more than a few feet. I would like to see the bus go to that side of the neighborhood only when someone moves in to the one house that would be beyond the 2/10ths of a mile rule. That end of the neighborhood is completely developed and there are not any children attending our school. I do not think this girl deserves a "front door pickup", just in case someone moves in at the end of her street. You do not see many cars speeding into a culdesac on the sidewalks at 730am, most people are speeding out of the neighborhood, where we are required to walk.

I think the most frustrating part to me, I researched school districts for several months. I chose to move to a home with the best rated public schools in St. Charles County. They have the highest paid teachers, which I think is very important, it makes the teachers less likely to leave and in general you usually have a more dedicated and happy teacher. The school is the only one in the county to have zero debt etc, etc. They have 9 elementary schools in the district, every house I liked happened to be in the only school in the district that was not scoring well on MAP testing. I contacted dept of education, I met with the principal on a few occasions to discuss their academics and also I wanted to know why their school was the only one in the district not passing map testing. After many hours of meetings and countless hours of research on my part, I was comfortable moving in here. I was confident my children would do great. I was mostly concerned for my 6yr old who attended private school for kindergarten and was bored out of her mind, I wanted to make sure she could be challenged. My point to this, I NEVER once considered the transportation. I guess I just assumed they would be in what I considered a safe location, I know our old neighborhood had very safe stops, not to mention, far fewer students on the bus, we have the max 76 per bus. I guess this is how the district saves so much money. 3 to a seat, even on the buses going to the high school.

 

[Duckster]

They have the highest paid teachers...

...we have the max 76 per bus. I guess this is how the district saves so much money. 3 to a seat, even on the buses going to the high school.

The money has to come from somewhere to pay the highest paid teachers.

 

[Rockminer]

Wendy;

That sounds pretty frustrating. Sometimes the more noise you make about certain issues, the more the bus garage or higher ups would ( have to ) listen. Depends on how much time you want to devote to making a change.

I'm a total noob here, so I don't know how you run your buisness. Would you be able to take your kids to and from school? Or would you be able to do it once or a couple of days per week? Reason I ask is because when I was little, my mother would carpool with a couple of other moms and it worked out really well. My mom could have done it by herself but got some relief from the other parents. Worked great for us. Kept us off the bus and didn't have to wait in inclimate weather.

On a side note, do you make the soaps and things on your website? Looks like you have some neat scents. Who inspired the bacon one? (yum)

 

[Wendy]

The money has to come from somewhere to pay the highest paid teachers.

No kidding, I should have figured that one out before now though.