A principal's admonishment

[Anonymous]

From the weekly newsletter of Jamestown principal:

"An unfortunate incident occurred Thursday morning when parents were dropping their children off at school. A parent pulled in front of a neighbor's driveway. The crossing guard instructed the parent not to block the driveway. The parent in a fit of anger drove away quickly and hit the rear bumper of our neighbor's car. The driver did not even stop to check the damage to the neighbor's car. Please listen to the directions of the crossing guard, drive responsively when you are around so many children, and do not block our neighbors' driveways while parking or dropping off children at school. For most parents, the drop off lane works well in the morning. All of us are in a great hurry, it is part of the culture of this region, but please try to set a good example for our children by obeying the traffic laws and being civil to one another. Our children watch what we do."

Sigh.

[Anonymous]

So sad. Our realtor really pushed Jamestown on us but we pushed back. I know test scores are king for some people but I didn't want to have to deal with parents like that and I didn't want my kids to have to interact with their kids.

I'm sure everyone at Jamestown isn't like that, but sometimes it only takes 3-4 to set a tone of entitlement.

[Anonymous]

Every school has these parents.

[Anonymous]

More of them live in the Jamestown district than most places. But I thought the principal's note struck just the right tone.

[Anonymous]

I live in Arlington and this is doesn't surprise me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: More of them live in the Jamestown district than most places. But I thought the principal's note struck just the right tone.

I agree, it was really well-written. Severe, direct, but not nagging or overbearing.

[Anonymous]

You should have seen what it was like at drop off at Jamestown a couple of years ago before there was a crossing guard at that crosswalk. It was a free-for-all and it's amazing that no one was ever hit by a car in front of the school. It got so bad that the principal had to stand out there every morning, oftentimes in the middle of the street, directing traffic. I saw her get into several shouting matches with parents dropping off their kids.

I think there are fewer "entitled-behaving" parents at Jamestown than there used to be, and certainly no more there than at any other North Arlington school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should have seen what it was like at drop off at Jamestown a couple of years ago before there was a crossing guard at that crosswalk. It was a free-for-all and it's amazing that no one was ever hit by a car in front of the school. It got so bad that the principal had to stand out there every morning, oftentimes in the middle of the street, directing traffic. I saw her get into several shouting matches with parents dropping off their kids.

I think there are fewer "entitled-behaving" parents at Jamestown than there used to be, and certainly no more there than at any other North Arlington school.

I disagree. We're at Glebe and I've yet to meet anyone like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: More of them live in the Jamestown district than most places. But I thought the principal's note struck just the right tone.

Come to Somerset in MOCO sometime -- parents block the neighboring driveways indiscriminately. The principal reminds constantly in the newsletter and is completely ignored. I'm surprised the neighbors haven't started denting the blocking cars on purpose. Thankfully my kids walks to school and we don't have to deal with the parking but it is beyond rude what some parents do.

[Anonymous]

Does Arlington County have busses? I FFX County, a lot of kids (too many) take the bus so the drop off is not too terrible.

[Anonymous]

I think it's funny how the principal is also schooling the parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does Arlington County have busses? I FFX County, a lot of kids (too many) take the bus so the drop off is not too terrible.

What does "too many" mean?

And yes, Arlington has buses, or as we like to call them, "extra-large horseless carriages." But a lot of parents do drop-off on their way to work or to take other kids to preschool or whatever.

[Anonymous]

I'm in Arlington (but not Jamestown) and while our school has buses - I think it's only two, maybe three this year since our enrollment is up again. Our boundaries are really pretty small so most of the school are "walkers" -- or drop off-ers as the case may be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does Arlington County have busses? I FFX County, a lot of kids (too many) take the bus so the drop off is not too terrible.

When I grew up, only the poor kids took the bus. They were pretty unruly and had long routes that went through bad neighborhoods. If a parent could drop off their kid to school, they did. My parents couldn't drop me off because they both worked early, I took the bus for a few years and then decided I'd rather walk the 1 mile instead of take the bus when I was old enough. When I went to high school, I always had an upperclassmen friend that could drive me and when I turned 16 my parents gave me their old car.

I've met a lot of people with similarly bad memories of school buses and would prefer to just drop their kid off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does Arlington County have busses? I FFX County, a lot of kids (too many) take the bus so the drop off is not too terrible.

When I grew up, only the poor kids took the bus. They were pretty unruly and had long routes that went through bad neighborhoods. If a parent could drop off their kid to school, they did. My parents couldn't drop me off because they both worked early, I took the bus for a few years and then decided I'd rather walk the 1 mile instead of take the bus when I was old enough. When I went to high school, I always had an upperclassmen friend that could drive me and when I turned 16 my parents gave me their old car.

I've met a lot of people with similarly bad memories of school buses and would prefer to just drop their kid off.

DS, 9, takes the bus in Arlington (and has a long trip) and loves the bus. The comments about the entitlement of some of the parents does make me laugh. We're in N Arlington but DS goes to one of the countywide schools precisely so that we can avoid these people.