So frustrated with FCPS

[Anonymous]

Venting here. I cannot get anyone to give me a bus schedule. This is our first year being in a bus-served neighborhood. I have been asking to see a bus schedule, any kind of bus schedule, since spring. You would think I was asking for the President's nuke briefcase codes. I have even gone physically to the school.

Now they tell me I have to attend or send someone to attend a back to school session when we will be out of town. When I asked if there's any other way to get it, nope, talk to the Registrar. Registrar says, nope talk to transportation.

With the change in middle school schedules my child is going to be waking up much, much earlier than last year for school. This means a change for our entire morning routine for the whole family. I need a bus schedule to make plans and arrangements.

Not happy.

[Anonymous]

They are still figuring the routes out. There are always tweaks. Ask a neighbor to pick one up for you. If this is a new school, why are you going on vacation the week before school starts when all the open houses happen?

[Anonymous]

In the past, bus schedules have been mailed out 1-2 weeks before school starts. It's frustrating, but that's the process.

[Anonymous]

That's no way to run.... anything. When I do our 2016 budget, I do it in SEPTEMBER. I just called transportation and you can imagine how helpful they were.

And yes PP what was I thinking taking my children to see their grandparents the last two weeks of the summer. Since of course that's when there's no SACC child care program and the time when we therefore take a vacation.

[Anonymous]

They cannot do the bus routes until they know how many kids are registered/need to be picked up. That information is not finalized until right before school starts because people are still registering. It's just the way things are.

Here's what you can do. Find out when the bus came last year. Be prepared for either 10 minutes before or after that. Be ready to adapt.

Also, if your kid is going into middle school, they can get themselves up, fed, dressed, lunch packed and out the door without you. They can even lock it behind themselves is they last one to leave. The timing shouldn't be that big of an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are still figuring the routes out. There are always tweaks. Ask a neighbor to pick one up for you. If this is a new school, why are you going on vacation the week before school starts when all the open houses happen?

Exactly!
Plus, there are families that are still registering within the school pyramids so Transportation waits as long as possible before releasing their schedule which has to be solid bc it's too hard to retract.
And why would they release a bus schedule back for the upcoming year in spring??? A ton of things happen in those few months including bus driver renewals/hiring, kindergartens enrolling, new families moving in/out, route changes, etc.
This is a huge school system Op. Its not just your little microcosm of your neighborhood so don't take it personally.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps ask a neighbor about last years schedule. It will probably be similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They cannot do the bus routes until they know how many kids are registered/need to be picked up. That information is not finalized until right before school starts because people are still registering. It's just the way things are.

Here's what you can do. Find out when the bus came last year. Be prepared for either 10 minutes before or after that. Be ready to adapt.

Also, if your kid is going into middle school, they can get themselves up, fed, dressed, lunch packed and out the door without you. They can even lock it behind themselves is they last one to leave. The timing shouldn't be that big of an issue.

My middle schooler does that. He actually started doing it on his own a couple of months into the year. It is nice to see that jump in maturity now that they are no longer in elememtary school.. if you are still waking up uour middle schooler, getting hreakfast/making lunch, etc try weaning them into doing it on theit own. It is great when they finally master that.

OP, just ask the neighbors where the bus usually picks up and what time the kids used to meet there. The bus stops generally don't change from year to year. Just plan on him being there five to ten minutes earlier than the differencenin start times. As long as you receive the schedule prior to the first day everything will be fine. Havimgnit weeks or months out isunnecessary.

[Anonymous]

They will mail it to you. I think at some point you can even look it up online. It is not unusual at all for FCPS to not have info available this early. If it makes you feel better we had a vacation planned the week before school started when my son was due to start school at LBSS so we missed open house. He had never ridden a bus before. We had dropped by the school and sort of wandered the hallways giving him an idea as to where the various different classes were although we didn't have a schedule so we couldn't locate his specific classrooms.

First day, I put him on the bus with a schedule and a map of the school that I had picked up in the office. That was it. He figured it out.

[Anonymous]

OP, quit hothering the school. You will get the schedule before school starts. You said you have been going to the school to try to get the schedule? Don't earn the label of pain in the ass crazy parent at your new school over the bus schedule. Save that currency for something important that you can change, not something that is based on some district wide formula that your complaints won't make one iota of a difference, except to make the office staff cringe every time they see you or hear your voice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They cannot do the bus routes until they know how many kids are registered/need to be picked up. That information is not finalized until right before school starts because people are still registering. It's just the way things are.

Here's what you can do. Find out when the bus came last year. Be prepared for either 10 minutes before or after that. Be ready to adapt.

Also, if your kid is going into middle school, they can get themselves up, fed, dressed, lunch packed and out the door without you. They can even lock it behind themselves is they last one to leave. The timing shouldn't be that big of an issue.

I asked for that. They won't give that to me either.

Also, next year it's a whole new ball game apparently, due to the schedule changes (high school later start times).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They will mail it to you. I think at some point you can even look it up online. It is not unusual at all for FCPS to not have info available this early. If it makes you feel better we had a vacation planned the week before school started when my son was due to start school at LBSS so we missed open house. He had never ridden a bus before. We had dropped by the school and sort of wandered the hallways giving him an idea as to where the various different classes were although we didn't have a schedule so we couldn't locate his specific classrooms.

First day, I put him on the bus with a schedule and a map of the school that I had picked up in the office. That was it. He figured it out.

They will not be mailing it, from what they say. We have to go to the back to school night, get our credentials, and use it to login to look at the schedule.

[Anonymous]

You don't ask the school, you ask your neighbors. The school will not release the bus schedules to randos for very good reasons.

For example, our school changed from 9:15 to 9:20 this year. I know that, so I have asked the parents in the neighborhood about timing last year and gotten a feel for how it will work next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They will mail it to you. I think at some point you can even look it up online. It is not unusual at all for FCPS to not have info available this early. If it makes you feel better we had a vacation planned the week before school started when my son was due to start school at LBSS so we missed open house. He had never ridden a bus before. We had dropped by the school and sort of wandered the hallways giving him an idea as to where the various different classes were although we didn't have a schedule so we couldn't locate his specific classrooms.

First day, I put him on the bus with a schedule and a map of the school that I had picked up in the office. That was it. He figured it out.

They will not be mailing it, from what they say. We have to go to the back to school night, get our credentials, and use it to login to look at the schedule.

Back to school night is usually a week after school starts. Why would they give you a bus schedule then? That doesn't make sense.
Are you sure your nit misunderstanding Op? Basically, you have 2 pages of posts telling you to hang tight until you get it in the mail. You're not getting it any sooner, like or not.

[Anonymous]

Back to school night happens after school starts. The bus schedule is mailed one week before school starts. Ask a neighbor if they mail the bus schedule.