FCPS High School Curricular Transfers: managing transportation
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Anonymous
| DS is in 8th grade, and we're looking at his high school options (TJ/AP/IB). Although he is sitting for the TJ test, he, and we as parents, think IB would be the best fit and are looking at doing a curricular transfer request from Chantilly (base) to South Lakes (the closest IB). The problem, of course, is transportation. I telework 3 days a week, and DH also teleworks some, but providing transportation until he can drive is going to be a hassle, and even with us both pitching in, I don't think we can cover pickup 5 days a week. How are other parents in this situation managing? Have you been able to set up carpools, or hire a high school senior to drive DC? In cases of last resort, has anyone used Uber for after school pickup for a HS freshman? Is there another option I'm missing? TIA |
Anonymous
|
In the same boat, but I'm currently PP with an 8th grader and facing the same drama for the next couple of years.
I am actually looking forward to HS, since with the later start times, it means a later release time. You might be surprised that with after school you can do pick-up. (on the flip side, I'm dreading drop off!). I did look into care.com for a "driver" and did get some hits. But we ended up making it work last year and this quarter. |
Anonymous
| Carpools. It's not going to be nearly as bad as you think. |
Anonymous
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We drive our child to and from TJ every day and it has worked out. Do you think your son will play a sport or be involved in other after school activities? Our child is usually at TJ till 6:00 or 6:30 doing sports, so it is no problem for one parent to do the pickup on the way home from work. The time spent in the car is a great time for our child to chat and discuss what's going on in his life.
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Anonymous
| Public bus pass is free for student. Can use it as back up especially for after school. Carpool if possible. My son goes to SLHS, so my DH send him in the morning everyday from Herndon, 18 min drive. He takes bus from school whenever I can't pick him up. |
Anonymous
Public busses are free for students? What do you have to show to get this? Where do you pick up the pass? |
Anonymous
This is great info! Thanks |
Anonymous
|
OP, at our high school (not South Lakes), some parents in your boat are working through the PTSA (web site notices, e-mails to parents via PTSA list) to find carpooling partners who also want to transport curricular transfer students. Not sure how many folks are signing up on a carpool list yet, since our own student (also a transfer) doesn't need a carpool. But I do think it's proactive and smart of parents to be working to organize a list of interested families. I know that your own student is not yet in high school and you're looking ahead, so you might need to wait until HS starts next fall in order to go via your HS PTA to get word out to parents, but I'd start right now with maybe putting out word in your MS that if anyone's going to be sending a kid to South Lakes in the fall, you're interested in talking now about transportation options.
FYI, due to privacy laws, the school itself cannot give you contact information for other families whose students are curricular transfer students - I think that is why the PTA is the one getting word out at our school. The PTA can't provide names directly either (and doesn't know which kids are curricular transfers anyway) but a good PTA has lots of ways to send out general information to many if not most parents, and the parents then can contact PTA if they're interested in carpooling. Maybe you'd be the one to organize a list! |
Anonymous
Check at your school. Here's the press release: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/connector/news/2015/15_014.htm |
Anonymous
|
My 9th grade DD is a transfer from CHS to Robinson. DH and I both work full time, but he is able to drive her every day to school (it's before his start time) and pick her up every day (although she has to wait about 2 hours after school every day for him to get there. She doesn't love it, but she usually just finds a place to do homework. We thought she'd have more involvement in after school activities, but so far, that has not happened. Possibly soon though. In the meantime, I'm going to check out the county bus thing that someone here posted - thanks!
In any event, we considered South Lakes as we are literally equal distance from both. We went to their IB night and a student there told me that there are some kids who get a bus after school to the local Teen Center in Reston. I think this is a well-kept hidden gem that Fairfax doesn't advertise. These teen centers are FREE and, as I recall, so was the bus to get the kids there. They are open until 9 or 10 pm! They are even open on Saturdays! Kids can play sports, do homework, and I think they had stuff like foosball, air hockey, etc. You don't have to go every day and there's no wait list (at least there wasn't at the Reston location when I asked about it last year). Here's where you can find more info: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/ncs/teens.htm Program Hub: Reston Teen Center 12196 Sunset Hills Road, Reston, VA 20190 Phone: 703-326-7040, TTY 711 Monday - Thursday: 2 - 9 p.m. Friday: 2 - 10 p.m. Saturday: Noon - 10 p.m. |
Anonymous
| I'm the PP. I forgot to mention that Robinson creates and shares a list of transfer students for carpooling - we had to give consent to be included - but I think most folks do that. They distributed it a few weeks before school started. |
Anonymous
| Get the bus pass at school. It's limited. My son has to wait about 2 weeks for the bus pass. |
Anonymous
This is great!! |
Anonymous
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I saw one of the Let's Go Go Go transport buses while dropping off my DC at high school; not sure if it is an option where you live.
http://lets-gogogo.com/ |
Anonymous
| OP here-- thanks so much!! I would really like for DC to be able to do IB, but have been worried about committing to after school pick up. There are some great options I was not aware of. |