Bus Stop Mania
School started this week and with it so did the early morning routine. Up at 6:15 – well at least the alarm clock is awake at that time and the snooze button gets a good workout – the boys get dressed, eat and watch Quest on and off while waiting on the bus. That is how it is supposed to go at least.
This week, again the first week of school, there has been some confusion about what exactly defines a “Bus Stop”. According to the school transportation folks it is a place where the bus stops in the morning and in the afternoon to pickup and drop off precious packages. It is an exact, literal spot that you should be able to walk to and point at. Someplace where you can stand and wait for the bus to come.
Our bus driver didn’t get that memo.
The first week of school is confusing enough for kids, especially young ones, first and third grade – add onto that a new neighborhood that is somewhat unfamiliar and you have a recipe for disaster. Our bus driver likes to make up the bus stops on the fly. Sometimes she stops short, up the road and out of sight, and then passes the actual bus stop without so much as a pause or second glance. Another stop up the road is a secondary place where the boys might stand and wait but it too is not a guarantee.
The afternoon drop off is just as much fun and has an added element of danger. Danger – the exact element you want to be a part of your kids release from the bus, full of thoughts of toys and playing and everything “not” school as they exit the bus and dash toward the house. If the proper stop was used it might not be a big deal. They would get out on the corner, cross over the road, a weird crossing at that as they have to cross in front of the bus diagonally to get across two streets that make up the corner, and head for home. Instead the boys get let out some distance before the stop, have to run along side the bus, up the hill to the house, and cross the road right in front of the now moving bus which then has to stop to let them cross anyway – right in front of the house this time.
All this is assuming that the driver actually lets the boys off the bus. One time Carol got to watch the bus drive by while the boys were waving at her and telling the bus driver that they needed to get off “here”, that this was their new home. After all, each of them wears a tag on their backpack that says just as much – a tag that is issued by the same transportation office that the bus driver works for. Instead the boys were taken to their old address and let off the bus in a neighborhood that they no longer live – at least their Nana was their to get them.
Frustration has set in. Knowing that it is the first week and that such confusion might happen it does nothing to ease the burden of not being certain the school and transportation office are doing what they can, or are supposed to do, to ensure the safe and timely delivery of our kids from the school to their home – or designated bus stop.
The good part about this is that a few calls to the transportation office to explain the situation and understand their procedures and policies has raised some awareness that such expectations are not being met and that there is room for improvement with at minimum one bus driver and one bus stop. We will see what happens.
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Oh wow – I cannot believe the driver isn’t stopping in the same place each time! That is dangerous and scary that if that happens they have to RUN ALONG SIDE OF THE BUS! Not good. And I definitely cannot believe they got dropped off at the wrong house!! OMG!!
I would be waiting at that bus stop w/ them and talking to her about keeping it consistent where she is stopping!! Geesh -
Yeah, this has been a pain in the rear. I was able to get a hold of the “supervisor” from the transportation department, which notably is seperate from the school system itself and related to the county. He listened to our complaint and promised to come out this past wed or thurs to inspect / review / see the problem for himself. Such did not happen so now we are turning to plan b.
Plan b is to write a letter to the county commissioner – to whom the transportation supervisors report, stating our complaint, the significant safety hazard it causes, as well as our recommendations for a solution. Along with the letter we plan to send a CC (physical type) to both the transportation office and the school.
Guess we’ll see what happens.
Yes, keep me posted. I think it is ludacris the “supervisor” didn’t even show up. The letter I wrote to the county commissioner would definitely include the supervisor’s name and note how he did not follow through with the promise they made to come check out the problem. I think going to the top is exactly where you should go with this and do not back down until this is taken care of. Simply amazing how people perform their jobs now days…..