It was half a year coming, really.
It's not like I hadn't put up with it and put up with it. Since August.
I'd called the compound. I'd emailed and spoken with the school counselor who said he was at his wit's end about the bus, its route and its lateness and gave me the name of the district people to call. I'd called the district people. I'd emailed friends whose kids also ride this bus and urged them to contact the district about its perpetual lateness.
Nothing changed.
Today, I happened to lose my mind about it.
To my way of thinking, which may or may not be rational, the school bus should be sitting at the school when the kids are dismissed at 3:50. The school bus shouldn't arrive at school at 4:00 or 4:10 or 4:20. (Ok, maybe 4:00 is ok, but kids shouldn't be sitting in the gym for 30 minutes waiting, especially when the kid lives 2 miles from the school).
Actually it is between 1.8-2.0 miles. That distance really doesn't warrant 45-60 minutes every day to get home. When it isn't the first month of school, and the weather is fine. A straight line from our house to school is 6 minutes.
To my way of thinking, if the district is going to have a dang "policy" whereby if you live in certain clusters you have to attend certain schools, then perhaps they should adhere to said policy and if people move into a new neighborhood in a different cluster they should have to change schools so that 1 bus doesn't service 2 different schools since the danged bus can't seem to make it to either school in a timely manner.
Do I sound entitled? Is this totally a first-world problem? Yes and yes.
This morning we stood in the freezing cold waiting on this bus for 35 minutes. This afternoon the bus dropped off my crying 8-year-old. It was a different bus, different driver, coming from a different direction, on the different side of the street. My heightened anxiety child was off-the-chain.
Today was the straw that broke this camel's back.
After I had calmed G down and told him I would "get more information," I proceeded to sit at my laptop and fire this off:
Mr. C***, I called your office in early December about bus ***, which services *** Elementary. The woman I spoke with assured me the situation would be looked into. Both you and T**** C**** were out of the office when I phoned.
I have contacted J***** Compound about this bus. I have talked to Mr. M*** at **** Elementary about this bus. This is the second time I am contacting you/your office about this bus. We live at *** ****** Drive, *****, which is 6-9 minutes away from *** Elementary, approximately 2 miles distance. My sons do not arrive home from school most days until 4:45. Today it was 5:00 pm.
This is the cherry on the top of my *school district* transportation day especially since my sons and I waited 35 minutes in the freezing cold this morning for the bus to arrive. It was 9:00 am before it picked them up. As you are probably aware, school begins at 9:05.
Parents are strongly encouraged to have their kids ride the buses, and because I want to be a team player with *school district*, I have done as requested.
However, I have reached the point where I am DONE with having my sons arrive home an hour or more after school dismisses when I can pick them up and have them home by 4:10 (our neighbor got tired of the issues with bus *** a long time ago; she rolls into her driveway with her children at no later than 4:10 each day).
I really and truly try to be an advocate for *school district*, but my patience has been reached for the 2015-2016 school year. I expect a response to this email from you so that I know it was received and read.
Thank you,
It's not like I hadn't put up with it and put up with it. Since August.
I'd called the compound. I'd emailed and spoken with the school counselor who said he was at his wit's end about the bus, its route and its lateness and gave me the name of the district people to call. I'd called the district people. I'd emailed friends whose kids also ride this bus and urged them to contact the district about its perpetual lateness.
Nothing changed.
Today, I happened to lose my mind about it.
To my way of thinking, which may or may not be rational, the school bus should be sitting at the school when the kids are dismissed at 3:50. The school bus shouldn't arrive at school at 4:00 or 4:10 or 4:20. (Ok, maybe 4:00 is ok, but kids shouldn't be sitting in the gym for 30 minutes waiting, especially when the kid lives 2 miles from the school).
Actually it is between 1.8-2.0 miles. That distance really doesn't warrant 45-60 minutes every day to get home. When it isn't the first month of school, and the weather is fine. A straight line from our house to school is 6 minutes.
To my way of thinking, if the district is going to have a dang "policy" whereby if you live in certain clusters you have to attend certain schools, then perhaps they should adhere to said policy and if people move into a new neighborhood in a different cluster they should have to change schools so that 1 bus doesn't service 2 different schools since the danged bus can't seem to make it to either school in a timely manner.
Do I sound entitled? Is this totally a first-world problem? Yes and yes.
This morning we stood in the freezing cold waiting on this bus for 35 minutes. This afternoon the bus dropped off my crying 8-year-old. It was a different bus, different driver, coming from a different direction, on the different side of the street. My heightened anxiety child was off-the-chain.
Today was the straw that broke this camel's back.
After I had calmed G down and told him I would "get more information," I proceeded to sit at my laptop and fire this off:
Mr. C***, I called your office in early December about bus ***, which services *** Elementary. The woman I spoke with assured me the situation would be looked into. Both you and T**** C**** were out of the office when I phoned.
I have contacted J***** Compound about this bus. I have talked to Mr. M*** at **** Elementary about this bus. This is the second time I am contacting you/your office about this bus. We live at *** ****** Drive, *****, which is 6-9 minutes away from *** Elementary, approximately 2 miles distance. My sons do not arrive home from school most days until 4:45. Today it was 5:00 pm.
This is the cherry on the top of my *school district* transportation day especially since my sons and I waited 35 minutes in the freezing cold this morning for the bus to arrive. It was 9:00 am before it picked them up. As you are probably aware, school begins at 9:05.
Parents are strongly encouraged to have their kids ride the buses, and because I want to be a team player with *school district*, I have done as requested.
However, I have reached the point where I am DONE with having my sons arrive home an hour or more after school dismisses when I can pick them up and have them home by 4:10 (our neighbor got tired of the issues with bus *** a long time ago; she rolls into her driveway with her children at no later than 4:10 each day).
I really and truly try to be an advocate for *school district*, but my patience has been reached for the 2015-2016 school year. I expect a response to this email from you so that I know it was received and read.
Thank you,
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