DCUM MCPS parents.. help me with MCPS bus question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes, the home stops are accommodations for children with special needs - like a child with Autism who perhaps does not react well in crowds. There are reasons a stop might not be available to all.

If the child doesn't react well in crowds that child shouldn't take a school bus full of other non SN kids. This is what I don't get. The child needs accommodations. Fine. Why does that mean a different child can't get on after the kid with needs?

I've emailed three different people on the bus depot list. No explanation...just "it's not allowed".

If a child can successfully take a bus of non SN kids so long as the bus picks him/her up at the house instead of having to travel to a bus stop, then that is the least restrictive accommodation and that is what the IEP will specify. And, that is a service that is provided under an IEP. Services are not for the convenience of parents who don't want to use the bus stops, but that is what you are asking. Just like an aide for a SN child isn't going to provide anything to your non-SN child during the school day, even if they are in the classroom and it would be convenient for your child, you don't get to use the service that's specified in another child's IEP for the bus.

I don't think that's the same thing. Based on your example, the aide in the class is there for a SN child and should only focus on that child, no other. Fine. The bus stop is for a SN child, but by someone else using the stop, it doesn't take anything away from that SN child, unlike the aide. I am not asking the bus driver or MCPS to make accommodations for my child.

[Anonymous]

There is probably a particular reason that child needs the bus stop at his house and they can't tell you what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is probably a particular reason that child needs the bus stop at his house and they can't tell you what it is.

+1. There are privacy laws protecting children with special needs. The school cannot disclose the reasons to you. Also not every child with SN will have a bus stop at their home. Only if there is a safety or other reason for it related to his/her disability. Just be grateful your child isn't SN and let it go please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is probably a particular reason that child needs the bus stop at his house and they can't tell you what it is.

Please! Everyone knows which child is SN (behavior or physical need) in a school. If a child is going to regular school with non-SN kids, then the parents actually want their child in a mainstream classroom.

Yes, they should certainly have a special bus-stop in front of their house. But, if they are going to a regular classroom, in a regular school, taking a regular bus - they should have no problem with regular kids sharing their bus-stop. In fact, they should ask the parents if they would prefer that, and I am sure most would agree to it.

The ONLY reason I think sharing of busstop could be disallowed, if parents left their kids unattended on the busstop and they were creating distracting discipline and safety issues. Another thing is if people would assume that that bus-stop is a permanent bus-stop, not subject to any change.

I am sure if the rule was that the parents of non-SN kids who wanted to use that bus-stop had to stay on the bus-stop with their child when they were waiting for the bus, AND the parents of the SN kid also had no objections - it would solve the problem.

[Anonymous]

The first poster said her DC was going to a HGC. We experienced something similar, here is the situation it's a different bus. There are special buses equipped specifically for special needs issues. Yes, the end point is the same elementary school. I have no problem with a different stop and a bus for special needs kids. Your HGC child has a bus and is attending a special HGC program, show some compassion for a child with special needs.

[Anonymous]

This sounds like one of those things where the transportation folks just made something up and passed it along as "a rule."
Why not ask them for a copy of this rule or policy in writing. It probably doesn't exist.
As a mom of a kid with SN, I would have no objection at all to having typical kids on my child's bus.
Ps: you might want to mention the "on and along" policy to transportation-which permits even kids going to private schools to ride public school buses. That is an actual policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is probably a particular reason that child needs the bus stop at his house and they can't tell you what it is.

I'm not asking the bus to not stop there. I have no problem with that. And I hate to break it to all the SN/IEP students, but when the bus stops at your house, the kids that are sitting on the bus will know your kid is a SN.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The first poster said her DC was going to a HGC. We experienced something similar, here is the situation it's a different bus. There are special buses equipped specifically for special needs issues. Yes, the end point is the same elementary school. I have no problem with a different stop and a bus for special needs kids. Your HGC child has a bus and is attending a special HGC program, show some compassion for a child with special needs.

No. The bus is the same bus. There are both SN kids and non SN kids on the bus. The bus goes to a central location and picks up some kids. That same bus then immediately goes to someone's home to pickup a SN kid. It's the same bus. The next destination is the HGC.

No one is saying that the bus shouldn't stop at the SN kid's house or the service shouldn't exist.

[Anonymous]

I repeat, show some compassion for the special needs child and family. There are tons of kids that would like to attend the HGC program, and here you are trying to be pushy about the bus stop. You sound like that horrible parent.

[Anonymous]

Maybe there is a safety rule that non-IEP bus stops have to be at a corner and not say in the middle of the block and once your child uses that stop, it becomes a "public" stop.

[Anonymous]

We are in FCPS and I have a SN child who takes the bus from our house. Just FYI, I have the drivers cell and text the driver to know if he will not be going to school that day, so the driver doesn't make the trip here.

[Anonymous]

How much time is this really going to save you, OP? It doesn't seem worth all the energy you are putting into it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I repeat, show some compassion for the special needs child and family. There are tons of kids that would like to attend the HGC program, and here you are trying to be pushy about the bus stop. You sound like that horrible parent.

I don't think that "We would like to use this bus stop for the bus that goes to my child's school" is pushy.

[Anonymous]

It's pushy. You are not considering the special needs family and you are not considering the school and bus system.

[Anonymous]

Me Me Me