Followed an almost empty FCPS AAP center bus today for miles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I happened to be reading the AAP board this morning, because I have a child entering the program and like to get new information. I read a post from someone who spends her time following buses for miles in order to count students who are in a program with which she has no relationship (and don't say "taxes"--I don't follow special ed buses or see if the FARMS kid eat their free lunches--sometimes you just have to realize not every dollar impacts you directly).

I have to assume this person either is supposed to be working or has *something* better to do around the house, but instead she's policing school buses--again, those allocated for a program in which her family does not take part. If this is not a waste, what is?

You would be wrong, on every count. First, I am a man, and a dad, whose child attends LLIV at the base school. No need for this child to be bused somewhere else, as the base school provides AAP - a mediocre program with which I do have a relationship. Second, as I mentioned in a separate thread (one you probably started), I was not able to pass this bus as we were on back roads throughout Great Falls and I was headed in the same direction. I knew it was the AAP bus because it started in our neighborhood and I know the one child who got on there. I wasn't "creepily stalking" anybody, just trying to get to work and stuck behind a bus for much of the way.

So really, you should stop assuming things about posters you know nothing about, in order to further your own agenda. I'm happy to spend my tax dollars on programs which benefit children with special needs. Center school AAP is not one of them.

You, sir, need to get over yourself. It's one thing to notice something and think "hmmmm" , and an entirely different thing to post it.

[Anonymous]

I think I'm more creeped out by a man following an elementary age bus vs a women.

[Anonymous]

*I'm* the one who assumes? I don't know anything about Great Falls and certainly don't post about it. And you clearly have your own agenda, which is too stop bus transportation to AAP, because YOU don't feel it's necessary.

And speaking of "waste," I'm kind of taken aback you did this all from work (I'm off today, BTW). I hope you're not a government employee whose salary I'm paying while you post on message boards all day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I happened to be reading the AAP board this morning, because I have a child entering the program and like to get new information. I read a post from someone who spends her time following buses for miles in order to count students who are in a program with which she has no relationship (and don't say "taxes"--I don't follow special ed buses or see if the FARMS kid eat their free lunches--sometimes you just have to realize not every dollar impacts you directly).

I have to assume this person either is supposed to be working or has *something* better to do around the house, but instead she's policing school buses--again, those allocated for a program in which her family does not take part. If this is not a waste, what is?

You would be wrong, on every count. First, I am a man, and a dad, whose child attends LLIV at the base school. No need for this child to be bused somewhere else, as the base school provides AAP - a mediocre program with which I do have a relationship. Second, as I mentioned in a separate thread (one you probably started), I was not able to pass this bus as we were on back roads throughout Great Falls and I was headed in the same direction. I knew it was the AAP bus because it started in our neighborhood and I know the one child who got on there. I wasn't "creepily stalking" anybody, just trying to get to work and stuck behind a bus for much of the way.

So really, you should stop assuming things about posters you know nothing about, in order to further your own agenda. I'm happy to spend my tax dollars on programs which benefit children with special needs. Center school AAP is not one of them.

Are you calling AAP mediocre based on your impression of the LLIV program your child attends at your base school? Maybe the program at the center is better, and that is why the two kids you saw on the bus are willing to ride for miles there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I happened to be reading the AAP board this morning, because I have a child entering the program and like to get new information. I read a post from someone who spends her time following buses for miles in order to count students who are in a program with which she has no relationship (and don't say "taxes"--I don't follow special ed buses or see if the FARMS kid eat their free lunches--sometimes you just have to realize not every dollar impacts you directly).

I have to assume this person either is supposed to be working or has *something* better to do around the house, but instead she's policing school buses--again, those allocated for a program in which her family does not take part. If this is not a waste, what is?

You would be wrong, on every count. First, I am a man, and a dad, whose child attends LLIV at the base school. No need for this child to be bused somewhere else, as the base school provides AAP - a mediocre program with which I do have a relationship. Second, as I mentioned in a separate thread (one you probably started), I was not able to pass this bus as we were on back roads throughout Great Falls and I was headed in the same direction. I knew it was the AAP bus because it started in our neighborhood and I know the one child who got on there. I wasn't "creepily stalking" anybody, just trying to get to work and stuck behind a bus for much of the way.

So really, you should stop assuming things about posters you know nothing about, in order to further your own agenda. I'm happy to spend my tax dollars on programs which benefit children with special needs. Center school AAP is not one of them.

You, sir, need to get over yourself. It's one thing to notice something and think "hmmmm" , and an entirely different thing to post it.

Right. And you've never posted about something that you've thought "hmmmm" to yourself about. Give me a break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think I'm more creeped out by a man following an elementary age bus vs a women.

So, because I'm a man, I'm supposed to have pulled over and waited until there would be absolutely no chance of me driving (or "following," as you love to keep repeating) a school bus? I was behind a bus. I think you have some skewed gender issues which you seriously need to get over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:*I'm* the one who assumes? I don't know anything about Great Falls and certainly don't post about it. And you clearly have your own agenda, which is too stop bus transportation to AAP, because YOU don't feel it's necessary.

And speaking of "waste," I'm kind of taken aback you did this all from work (I'm off today, BTW). I hope you're not a government employee whose salary I'm paying while you post on message boards all day.

I'm floored by all the red herrings you people keep throwing up to distract from the real issue I was posting about: unnecessary busing to centers. It's telling that none of you have anything substantive to say but instead want to discuss everything but. The issue isn't what gender I am or from where I was posting. Nor is it posting on message boards "all day" - you mean like you've been doing? You also have no idea what I do for a living or even whether I'm self-employed, which I am. Not that any of that has one iota to do with the issue of wasteful busing to AAP centers and the taxpayer money that goes to pay for it.

You all seem upset that this issue has been brought up. And on the "AAP forum," no less, right where it belongs. Each and every one of you knows just how wasteful the center buses are; you just can't stand it when anyone suggests doing away with them.

[Anonymous]

OP, I agree 100 percent. AAP bussing is a huge waste of county dollars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:*I'm* the one who assumes? I don't know anything about Great Falls and certainly don't post about it. And you clearly have your own agenda, which is too stop bus transportation to AAP, because YOU don't feel it's necessary.

And speaking of "waste," I'm kind of taken aback you did this all from work (I'm off today, BTW). I hope you're not a government employee whose salary I'm paying while you post on message boards all day.

I'm floored by all the red herrings you people keep throwing up to distract from the real issue I was posting about: unnecessary busing to centers. It's telling that none of you have anything substantive to say but instead want to discuss everything but. The issue isn't what gender I am or from where I was posting. Nor is it posting on message boards "all day" - you mean like you've been doing? You also have no idea what I do for a living or even whether I'm self-employed, which I am. Not that any of that has one iota to do with the issue of wasteful busing to AAP centers and the taxpayer money that goes to pay for it.

You all seem upset that this issue has been brought up. And on the "AAP forum," no less, right where it belongs. Each and every one of you knows just how wasteful the center buses are; you just can't stand it when anyone suggests doing away with them.

Sure, OP. Cause no one has ever brought up "wasteful" busing to AAP centers before.... This issue pops up regularly not only on this forum, but anywhere the anti-center people can squeeze it in.

What you saw was ONE bus going to ONE center in an area that has Local Level IV. Many of us do not have that option. If you're proposing that there be no busing for students who can be served by Local Level IV, I'm actually with you. But FCPS will never drill down to that level of detail; they would just eliminate AAP busing altogether. Fine for you; sucks for more of us for whom AAP would become an economic decision.

I'd be thrilled with Local Level IV at every school. Seems like the easiest and cheapest choice for all parents.

[Anonymous]

Hmm...our AAP buses are overcrowded, to the point that at the beginning of the school year most of them went three to a seat.

They also started there route from the edges of the feeder schools, and as they get closer to to the centers the AAP buses merge with the center routes and begin picking up students zoned for the center.

That is what your center buses should be doing too so that they maximize the seats on the bus and get the most bang for the buck.

If they must only pick up a small number of students due to a large geographic area, then they need to bus the kids in what we used to refer to back in the day as "the short bus".