school bus schedules/ new info for school year. When do we get it?

[Anonymous]

My child is starting kindergarten in the fall. Does anyone know when the school bus schedules come out or when I will find out if my child is designated a walker or school bus eligible? I haven't gotten much information from the school since completing the paperwork. Is there any other information that I may have missed?

[Anonymous]

You can find out now whether your child will be riding a bus. Easiest way is to see what the other kids in the neighborhood are doing. Second option is to call the school or transportation office. They won't tell you the bus time until the week before school starts, but they shoudl be able to tell you if your address is on a bus route or a walker route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can find out now whether your child will be riding a bus. Easiest way is to see what the other kids in the neighborhood are doing. Second option is to call the school or transportation office. They won't tell you the bus time until the week before school starts, but they shoudl be able to tell you if your address is on a bus route or a walker route.

Thank you. I wasn't aware the bus times came out so close to the school start date.

[Anonymous]

If you check with your neighbors who have school age kids, they can tell you when the bus came last year. Then adjust based on the new start times (which are 5-20 min. different than last year). That's not a guarantee, but the best estimate available.

[Anonymous]

Which county? APS doesn't send theirs out till August. Our school starts at 8:15 and we live about 1.8 miles away; my daughter's bus comes at 7:51. I think the cutoff in Arlington for walking/bussing is about a mile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which county? APS doesn't send theirs out till August. Our school starts at 8:15 and we live about 1.8 miles away; my daughter's bus comes at 7:51. I think the cutoff in Arlington for walking/bussing is about a mile.

Fairfax County

[Anonymous]

Fairfax County will send them out a few days before school starts. Then, they may revisit it during the first few weeks. The problem is they are balancing the enrollment etc until the last few days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child is starting kindergarten in the fall. Does anyone know when the school bus schedules come out or when I will find out if my child is designated a walker or school bus eligible? I haven't gotten much information from the school since completing the paperwork. Is there any other information that I may have missed?

You can call the school to find out if your child is a walker of bus rider. The bus schedules are usually mailed about a week or less before school starts. At our ES, class assignments usually come out the night before school starts or the night before open house the Friday before school starts. At our school, they are posted on the entry doors by teacher listing First names and last initial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is starting kindergarten in the fall. Does anyone know when the school bus schedules come out or when I will find out if my child is designated a walker or school bus eligible? I haven't gotten much information from the school since completing the paperwork. Is there any other information that I may have missed?

You can call the school to find out if your child is a walker of bus rider. The bus schedules are usually mailed about a week or less before school starts. At our ES, class assignments usually come out the night before school starts or the night before open house the Friday before school starts. At our school, they are posted on the entry doors by teacher listing First names and last initial.

I am sure this is revisted every year but that seems so last minute to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is starting kindergarten in the fall. Does anyone know when the school bus schedules come out or when I will find out if my child is designated a walker or school bus eligible? I haven't gotten much information from the school since completing the paperwork. Is there any other information that I may have missed?

You can call the school to find out if your child is a walker of bus rider. The bus schedules are usually mailed about a week or less before school starts. At our ES, class assignments usually come out the night before school starts or the night before open house the Friday before school starts. At our school, they are posted on the entry doors by teacher listing First names and last initial.

I am sure this is revisted every year but that seems so last minute to me.

They go over the school bus routes in August when they have a better handle on the students who will be coming. Classes are also subject to change if they are close to having to add a class if enrollment increases before school starts. After school starts, they generally do not add a class and just add to the classes (almost always one or two more kids in the class after the beginning of the year- even if it is over the "maximum"). Kindergarten is especially hard, our Principal once said that 50% of the incoming kindergarteners that show up in Sept are not registered until August and that make it more difficult. Many times they know they are there,because of surveys and preschools, but they can't add them to the roster until they are officially registered. We are in a more stable school with a lower than average mobility rate, so it is worse in schools with higher mobility rates. It was harder for families when kindergarten was half day and you didn't know until the week before if your chid was going to be in morning or afternoon k.

[Anonymous]

As has been said, ask the other parents in the neighborhood. You won't get info from the schools until mere days before school starts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is starting kindergarten in the fall. Does anyone know when the school bus schedules come out or when I will find out if my child is designated a walker or school bus eligible? I haven't gotten much information from the school since completing the paperwork. Is there any other information that I may have missed?

You can call the school to find out if your child is a walker of bus rider. The bus schedules are usually mailed about a week or less before school starts. At our ES, class assignments usually come out the night before school starts or the night before open house the Friday before school starts. At our school, they are posted on the entry doors by teacher listing First names and last initial.

I am sure this is revisted every year but that seems so last minute to me.

I'm sure that FCPS, the 11th largest school system, with 1700 buses in its fleet, would gladly accept your suggestions for how to put our their routes much earlier. Please avail them of your professional insights and show them the way.

[Anonymous]

New poster here. It used to shock me, but I have gotten used to it. My oldest is in HS now. I just have to tell work I may have to adjust my schedule come September, and I'm grateful I can do that!

[Anonymous]

Here is why they are often last minute. People move. One family with three kids moving into a house can result in the bus being over crowded....and they have to rework the route...which cascades to reworking several routes.

Some people pull there kids out of private at the last minute, or enroll in private...

With the budget problems, the county is trying to get the kids to school in the optimal manner.

[Anonymous]

8:13 here. Oh, I get why it's so late and I can't imagine the complexity of planning the bus schedules. But it is absolutely an issue for families to nor know when the bus schedule until the week before school starts. We're lucky that we both have the flexibility to adjust our work schedules to accommodate whatever the bus schedule is, but not everyone has that flexibility. It can mean the difference between having to find a permanent morning before care situation or not.