Ridiculous bus ride!

[Anonymous]

OP,

Talk to the MCPS transportation department. There are many bus-stops assigned to magnet schools and if you can make a case of hardship and if there is an assigned but unactivated bus-stop nearer to your house, that may have been dropped in previous years due to lack of students, then that bus-stop can be reactivated.

Good luck.

Busing is provided by our tax dollars, and many times the bus routes are inefficient and ineffectual. Making a request will enable someone to take a closer look at how they can maximize the efficiency of that route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 6-year old was accepted into a MCPS magnet program about 8 miles from our home. Initially we were informed the bus would pick him up at 8:30 and then get him to school at 9:00. That sounded reasonable to us. Today we were informed that they added new stops and the pickup will now be 7:45 and he will still arrive at 9:00. Anyone else in this situation? Who should I call to complain?

Why not drive you kid in? I always just drove my child to school.

Not the OP, but there are lots of things that might make it not so simple for a person to drive their child to school -- work schedules, child care, traffic, car ownership, school location, etc.

I am at work by 7, as is my husband. We pay our nanny to be at our house early to drive our children to school.

Deal . . . Be an parent and find ways to handle logistical issues.

whining ninnies

You HAVE to realize what an ass you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Consider it free morning care!

+1!

If you can't drive the kid yourself, at least you're not having to pay for before care (it's expensive!). Send the kid on the bus with a book. Not the end of the world. Or, just stick with your neighborhood school.

[Anonymous]

Wow! Must be nice to be able to afford a nanny! Or to not have to go to work and be able to spend a good portion of the day driving their child to school. Why do so many people think that everyone else has the same resources than they?

[Anonymous]

Why are the immersions not magnets? Are the HGCs magnets?

[Anonymous]

Wow! Must be nice to be able to afford a nanny! Or to not have to go to work and be able to spend a good portion of the day driving their child to school. Why do so many people think that everyone else has the same resources as they?

[Anonymous]

Why are the immersions not magnets? Are the HGCs magnets?

HGCs are magnets. Your child must test to get in to one of these. The immersions are simply a lottery system. My son "won the lottery" for one of the immersion schools and we decided not to attend, partially for the commute time. I think it would be a "ridiculous" situation if this was the OP's home school, but this is an immersion program that OP has chosen to have her child attend. I have friends in the same situation and they make due--car pooling, adjusting work schedules, driving their children to other bus stops to reduce the commute somewhat, or just letting the children ride the bus. If it doesn't work for your child then you can always transfer him/her back to the home school.

OP, you should definitely see what can be done, but don't expect anything. Every year cuts to the busing budget for magnets and immersions are always on the table.

[Anonymous]

mag·net school
noun
noun: magnet school;?plural noun: magnet schools

1.
a public school offering special instruction and programs not available elsewhere, designed to attract a more diverse student body from throughout a school district.

There is nothing in the definition of a magnet that implies it must have a competitive entrance. It is all about location.

[Anonymous]

Everyone maturally wants their situation to be the most convenient. But the fact is someone will always have to be the first stop. I'm sorry that it is you, but that's the lottery of life. In whatever convoluted way they do it, bus routes are designed to be the most efficient, not designed to to get older kids first and loop back around for little ones.

My guess is you can complain and they might look at the route and tweak it, or they could look at it and leave it as is. Personally, given the distance to the school and the number of widely spaced children the bus must be picking up, it sounds about right to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 6-year old was accepted into a MCPS magnet program about 8 miles from our home. Initially we were informed the bus would pick him up at 8:30 and then get him to school at 9:00. That sounded reasonable to us. Today we were informed that they added new stops and the pickup will now be 7:45 and he will still arrive at 9:00. Anyone else in this situation? Who should I call to complain?

Why not drive you kid in? I always just drove my child to school.

Not the OP, but there are lots of things that might make it not so simple for a person to drive their child to school -- work schedules, child care, traffic, car ownership, school location, etc.

I am at work by 7, as is my husband. We pay our nanny to be at our house early to drive our children to school.

Deal . . . Be an parent and find ways to handle logistical issues.

Pity the poor nanny's children. Who's taking care of hers when she is driving yours to school? But then again, it is no dark secret that high powered women have built their careers on the cheap labor of poorer, often immigrant, women.
whining ninnies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:mag·net school
noun
noun: magnet school;?plural noun: magnet schools

1.
a public school offering special instruction and programs not available elsewhere, designed to attract a more diverse student body from throughout a school district.

There is nothing in the definition of a magnet that implies it must have a competitive entrance. It is all about location.

This is right in theory, but Montgomery County defines it differently. This page distinguishes between Application (magnet), Language Immersion, and Consortia -- Choice: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/ I think this debate began because the OP said her child was "accepted" to a magnet, which is not what people would say if they won a lottery, I would think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Riding the bus is a privilege, not a right. If you don't like the bus route, make your own arrangements to get your child to and from school. There are many public districts in the country that do not provide free transportation to and from school.

I'm disturbed by this answer. Failing to provide transportation unfairly disadvantages poor children, children of working parents, and others who don't have the resources you might. Even though these are "magnet" programs, the children of single, poor or two-working parent families should still have equal access to these programs. Having open admissions but not providing transportation is, IMO, just another way of segregating.

me, too. Let everybody sit in the bus all day so the poors can make it to school!

[Anonymous]

the poors can't get their kids to school 'cause their making sure the offspring of little miss bossy pants gets their first.

[Anonymous]

They are offering transportation. But it's kind of like taking a taxi vs. taking the shared Super Shuttle. It might only take 20 minutes to drive between her house and the school, but if they pick up all the kids along the way who need a ride, it takes 1.25 hours. The school system should not be obligated to pay for taxi speeds, but they are still offering Super Shuttle speeds.

[Anonymous]

1. My nanny has grown kids.

2. My husband and I are both educators. high powered woman - LMAO!!!!

3. My nanny LEFT an abusive family to work with us and another family b/c she adores the kids.

4. She is paid VERY well. While we aren't living high on the hog, we believe in treating our nanny the same way we'd expect her to treat our children.

5. She is legal and lives in a nice home with her husband, who owns a business. My kids have been there plenty of times.

I love the sweeping generalizations women make. And I am indeed sick of the whining. LEARN to be a parent. I'm not blaming a school system for logistical issues that affect me. I learn to work with it.

yes, ninnies! many of you

high powered woman - LOVE THAT! Thanks for the laugh!




I am at work by 7, as is my husband. We pay our nanny to be at our house early to drive our children to school.

Deal . . . Be an parent and find ways to handle logistical issues.

Pity the poor nanny's children. Who's taking care of hers when she is driving yours to school? But then again, it is no dark secret that high powered women have built their careers on the cheap labor of poorer, often immigrant, women.
whining ninnies