Immersion and bussing

[Anonymous]

It occurs to me that if my K student gets into the immersion program next year that we like (Spanish) she will sit on a bus for 90 minutes both morning and evening for the benefit. I can't decide. Sounds terribly excessive. What is the experience of other K kids on busses to/from immersion programs? How does your little one handle such long commutes? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Are you sure? Where would your child be coming from?

Our kids had a bus ride of around 20 minutes, which was perfectly reasonable, but they arrived at school pretty early.

Honestly, I think 90 minutes each way is entirely too long, but it's hard to imagine unless you are coming from Gaithersburg and going to Rolling Terrace.

[Anonymous]

Rock Creek Valley to Rock Creek forest. According to the busing schedule from one to the other this year, a child would be on the bus for 90 minutes each way...unless I'm reading something wrong.

[Anonymous]

I think you must be reading it wrong. You are up near Aspen Hill, right? That seems way too long. (My kids go to RCF.)

[Anonymous]

I could have sworn I saw a bus schedule on the RCF website for immersion students, showing pickup at RCValley around 7:30 and drop around 9am at RCF. Now I can't find the darn schedule anymore. The return in the afternoon was equally ugly. Yes, I'm in Aspen Hill. RCValley home ES. I'm really trying to figure out if that is what the commute would be, in which case why even bother with the lottery. 90 minutes 2x a day for a 5 year old is pure torture. lol

[Anonymous]

Here's the schedule. http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/rcforestes/news/ROCK%20CREEK%20FOREST%20ES%20MAGNET%20ARR.DEPrev11.18(2).pdf

90 minutes. Ugh.

[Anonymous]

THat is awful.

You might want to consider a carpool? I agree, I wouldn't put my kid through that. However, I would call the bus depot and make sure ... it could be that there's some extra time built into the schedule and they actually arrive earlier at RCF.

[Anonymous]

You should not let the bus schedule dictate your decision to apply to the program. In addition, there is no guarantee your child will be selected for it in the lottery. Just apply and then see if you have a decision to make.

[Anonymous]

Wow, that is terrible. Any way you could drive? Or drive one way and get another parent to drive the other way?

[Anonymous]

That doesn't surprise me....when I was in school I went to a program near Aspen Hill and lived near Forest Knolls in Silver Spring. I was the last stop on the route. We basically had one kid in almost every freaking neighborhood from Aspen Hill to Downtown Silver Spring. We also picked up kids from neighboring elementary schools that were bussed out of bounds for other programs. It was slightly over an hour each way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should not let the bus schedule dictate your decision to apply to the program. In addition, there is no guarantee your child will be selected for it in the lottery. Just apply and then see if you have a decision to make.

I agree - I wouldn't do this "anticipatory worrying" but would wait and see if this is an issue (i.e. if your child is selected).

If your child is selected, you may well find carpool options. You could try posting on your neighborhood listserv to see if anyone has child/ren at the school.

[Anonymous]

At least you'd get transportation. Not all of the magnet programs have it. (Not that I'm bitter...)

[Anonymous]

PP, what do you mean, not all magnet programs have transportation? I thought they all did in MCPS. Can you elaborate?

[Anonymous]

Nope, Burnt Mills ES does not have any busing for non-neighborhood immersion students. Interestingly, the MCPS website says that there is busing from central locations, but there actually isn't any.