Arlington elementary school drop off- help me with logistics

[Anonymous]

Do you people actually live in n. Arlington? Most children at neighborhood elementary schools in Arlington are NOT eligible to ride the bus. OP should first check to see if her child CAN ride the bus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have bus pick up your kindergartner prob no later than 830. Then plenty of time to get prek by 915. Principals wish all kids took bus makes school safer and mornings smoother. Sounds like it helps your morning too and builds independence in your DC.

School kiss and rides start around 835 but generally is zoo and you will have peak commuter travel at same time.

I don't live in Arlington but would pay big bucks for a bus. In Loudoun, they are taking the buses away left and right and making more people "walkers" which of course makes car line terrible. I would LOVE to have a bus. But I am not walking my 6 year old 3/4 of a mile down a busy road and dragging along my 3 yo. So we drive. And hate it. Are buses really that expensive? Most of the Loudoun buses are 1/2 empty and drive right by my street on their way to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you people actually live in n. Arlington? Most children at neighborhood elementary schools in Arlington are NOT eligible to ride the bus. OP should first check to see if her child CAN ride the bus.

This is not true. Many neighborhoods are quite far from the actual school kids attend - Taylor for instance has a huge boundary area. Only a few are true neighborhood schools.

[Anonymous]

Elementary walk zones are a mile from school. They make exceptions when the walk requires crossing a major street.

[Anonymous]

Returning to the original question - you can drop off your kid up to 20 minutes early at my Arlington school (that starts at 9). The school does not allow parents to enter the school after the first few days of Sept., so you can walk your kid to the door. Most parents drop their kids on the parking lot and the kids walk in alone. There are teachers/monitors who line the path to guide kids inside. Early is good because there can be quite a bit of traffic, especially on rainy/snowy/cold days when there can be a 15 minute+ line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have bus pick up your kindergartner prob no later than 830. Then plenty of time to get prek by 915. Principals wish all kids took bus makes school safer and mornings smoother. Sounds like it helps your morning too and builds independence in your DC.

School kiss and rides start around 835 but generally is zoo and you will have peak commuter travel at same time.

I don't live in Arlington but would pay big bucks for a bus. In Loudoun, they are taking the buses away left and right and making more people "walkers" which of course makes car line terrible. I would LOVE to have a bus. But I am not walking my 6 year old 3/4 of a mile down a busy road and dragging along my 3 yo. So we drive. And hate it. Are buses really that expensive? Most of the Loudoun buses are 1/2 empty and drive right by my street on their way to school.

That's such a sad state of affairs. I don't blame you, I totally understand. But why was no sidewalk built? Why must everything be done by car?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our bus stop is the last before the bus goes to school, and it arrives at 8:30. So that's a good option if you are eligible for bus service and decide you want to try it once your son settles in. I drive my kids to the bus stop, drop the older one off and then drive the younger one to preschool.

If you don't change your mind about the bus, drop off (at our school) starts at 8:40. It runs pretty smoothly; there are a couple of adults and a few fifth graders who open the car door and help the student out. You pull over, kid gets out, you leave.

Isn't the point of a bus stop is that you can walk to it?

If we were to walk there and walk back home to get the car my younger one would be late for preschool. We love walking to the bus stop in the afternoon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our bus stop is the last before the bus goes to school, and it arrives at 8:30. So that's a good option if you are eligible for bus service and decide you want to try it once your son settles in. I drive my kids to the bus stop, drop the older one off and then drive the younger one to preschool.

If you don't change your mind about the bus, drop off (at our school) starts at 8:40. It runs pretty smoothly; there are a couple of adults and a few fifth graders who open the car door and help the student out. You pull over, kid gets out, you leave.

This is what we do - drive to bus (8:30) and then drive to preschool from there. If we miss the bus then we do drop off (8:40) and head out to preschool from there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our bus stop is the last before the bus goes to school, and it arrives at 8:30. So that's a good option if you are eligible for bus service and decide you want to try it once your son settles in. I drive my kids to the bus stop, drop the older one off and then drive the younger one to preschool.

If you don't change your mind about the bus, drop off (at our school) starts at 8:40. It runs pretty smoothly; there are a couple of adults and a few fifth graders who open the car door and help the student out. You pull over, kid gets out, you leave.

This is what we do - drive to bus (8:30) and then drive to preschool from there. If we miss the bus then we do drop off (8:40) and head out to preschool from there.

^ and we happily walk to the school bus in the morning on days when #2 doesn't have preschool and also every afternoon to pick up #1. We arrive at the preschool too late if we need to walk back home and then get in the car, etc. Save ~10 min by driving to school bus on the preschool mornings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you people actually live in n. Arlington? Most children at neighborhood elementary schools in Arlington are NOT eligible to ride the bus. OP should first check to see if her child CAN ride the bus.

what's that you say?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you people actually live in n. Arlington? Most children at neighborhood elementary schools in Arlington are NOT eligible to ride the bus. OP should first check to see if her child CAN ride the bus.

According to APS more than 45% of Arlington students ride the bus. Even more are eligible to ride the bus, but don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Returning to the original question - you can drop off your kid up to 20 minutes early at my Arlington school (that starts at 9). The school does not allow parents to enter the school after the first few days of Sept., so you can walk your kid to the door. Most parents drop their kids on the parking lot and the kids walk in alone. There are teachers/monitors who line the path to guide kids inside. Early is good because there can be quite a bit of traffic, especially on rainy/snowy/cold days when there can be a 15 minute+ line.

OP here. Thanks for your helpful answer...I don't mind doing the drop off. I stay at home and will be heading out for pre-k anyway, just wanted to make sure that we'd make it to the preschool in time. I'll plan to go on the early side for elementary and the later side of the window for preschool and it should work just fine. Actually might be better then our situation now where I'd have a half hour to hour to kill in between. Maybe after he gets acclimated I'll see if his friends are riding the bus and he can do whatever they do the following years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you people actually live in n. Arlington? Most children at neighborhood elementary schools in Arlington are NOT eligible to ride the bus. OP should first check to see if her child CAN ride the bus.

According to APS more than 45% of Arlington students ride the bus. Even more are eligible to ride the bus, but don't.

Yes, but that stat includes high schoolers and middle schoolers (which have far bigger catchment areas--and therefore more riders--than elementary schools), as well as students at choice schools (which have many students traveling long distances) and disabled students who get bus pick-up. A far smaller share of students at most non-choice elementary schools rides the bus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our bus stop is the last before the bus goes to school, and it arrives at 8:30. So that's a good option if you are eligible for bus service and decide you want to try it once your son settles in. I drive my kids to the bus stop, drop the older one off and then drive the younger one to preschool.

If you don't change your mind about the bus, drop off (at our school) starts at 8:40. It runs pretty smoothly; there are a couple of adults and a few fifth graders who open the car door and help the student out. You pull over, kid gets out, you leave.

Isn't the point of a bus stop is that you can walk to it?

If we were to walk there and walk back home to get the car my younger one would be late for preschool. We love walking to the bus stop in the afternoon.

So lazy.