Equity?!

[Anonymous]

Such a scam. Ever increasing administrators and DEI staff . . . But poor kids need to huff it across 4 lanes of traffic because we blew our money virtue signaling. Disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you have no clue what’s going on. First, there is a shortage of people willing to drive busses at all. Second, between driver salaries and equipment costs, it’s about a million dollars a year for each bus they run. So no, laying off one administrator will not gain you 2-3 more bus routes. Not even close.

A million dollars per bus? Put out a tender for that with private companies, and I think the problem will be solved quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe so many people in this thread, when given a choice between central office admins who don't see a kid all day and bus drivers, choose the central office. My kid's a walker by the way.

Exactly. I would choose literally anything (more band instruments, more art supplies, more lunch staff...ANYTHING) over central office staff.

+1,000 bring back free breakfast and lunch. The central office people are AWFUL and as a teacher I don’t think they would last long in a classroom. I have only ever seen these people on a weird intro to training video where they were reading from a screen and recorded.
Not very impressive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe so many people in this thread, when given a choice between central office admins who don't see a kid all day and bus drivers, choose the central office. My kid's a walker by the way.

Exactly. I would choose literally anything (more band instruments, more art supplies, more lunch staff...ANYTHING) over central office staff.

+1,000 bring back free breakfast and lunch. The central office people are AWFUL and as a teacher I don’t think they would last long in a classroom. I have only ever seen these people on a weird intro to training video where they were reading from a screen and recorded.
Not very impressive.

I don’t think painting them all with a broad brush is fair. I’ve had some great trainings with our central office staff as well as positive interactions with them in our schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you have no clue what’s going on. First, there is a shortage of people willing to drive busses at all. Second, between driver salaries and equipment costs, it’s about a million dollars a year for each bus they run. So no, laying off one administrator will not gain you 2-3 more bus routes. Not even close.

A million dollars per bus? Put out a tender for that with private companies, and I think the problem will be solved quickly.

Right! My kids’ ballet school operates a bus after school. I guarantee it doesn’t cost a million a year. Or even a quarter

I wonder where OP lives that there aren’t any kids in her neighborhood. Why would you want to raise kids there? Every single house in mine has 2-3 kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you have no clue what’s going on. First, there is a shortage of people willing to drive busses at all. Second, between driver salaries and equipment costs, it’s about a million dollars a year for each bus they run. So no, laying off one administrator will not gain you 2-3 more bus routes. Not even close.

A million dollars per bus? Put out a tender for that with private companies, and I think the problem will be solved quickly.

Right! My kids’ ballet school operates a bus after school. I guarantee it doesn’t cost a million a year. Or even a quarter

I wonder where OP lives that there aren’t any kids in her neighborhood. Why would you want to raise kids there? Every single house in mine has 2-3 kids.

Maybe someone on this thread can confirm but I believe APS has to lease the parking from Arlington County and they have said before that an issue is that they have run out of parking for more busses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Equity should be trading in one of those many six-figured central office people in for two, maybe even three, fairly paid bus drivers. The boundary changes in APS are about that, aren’t they? Let’s be honest: they can’t find drivers because they don’t pay them well. We’re over a mile from the school now, and I’m not keen on my eleven-year-old doing the walk alone. It’s a safety issue. There are no other kids that live near us, so I will drive her.

However, even further away are the kids in the apartments, and I know for a fact that some of their parents don’t have cars. I’m angry for them. All this talk about equity, and what has it gotten them? Lots of central office staff and no busses for their kids.

I support you OP. Spend money where it matters. Having people going around shouting equity makes no difference unless there is a direct impact on students.

Do you have any evidence that students at the apartment building OP mentioned have higher rates of absenteeism or lower academic performance due to the distance they have to walk to school? If not, then that’s not a great place to start addressing equity concerns.

OP fails to consider that, if the apartment dwellers don't have cars, they're used to getting places without cars -- by taking public transit, bicycling, scootering, or even walking. I'll bet the car-less apartment dwellers are not complaining about having to walk a mile to school nearly as much as OP is.

.


Ahh…yes. The “they’re used to eating SH!!t so they’re better at it” argument.

That’s some equity right there.

You have offered zero evidence that walk zones impact student outcomes. Until you do that, your argument is worthless.

.

It's pouring rain outside. The students who walked a mile in the rain are certainly less fresh for starting the day than the dry student who was bused from their front lawn.

Less fresh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you have no clue what’s going on. First, there is a shortage of people willing to drive busses at all. Second, between driver salaries and equipment costs, it’s about a million dollars a year for each bus they run. So no, laying off one administrator will not gain you 2-3 more bus routes. Not even close.

A million dollars per bus? Put out a tender for that with private companies, and I think the problem will be solved quickly.

Right! My kids’ ballet school operates a bus after school. I guarantee it doesn’t cost a million a year. Or even a quarter

I wonder where OP lives that there aren’t any kids in her neighborhood. Why would you want to raise kids there? Every single house in mine has 2-3 kids.

Is your kids’ ballet studio running three full round trip bus routes a day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you have no clue what’s going on. First, there is a shortage of people willing to drive busses at all. Second, between driver salaries and equipment costs, it’s about a million dollars a year for each bus they run. So no, laying off one administrator will not gain you 2-3 more bus routes. Not even close.

A million dollars per bus? Put out a tender for that with private companies, and I think the problem will be solved quickly.

Right! My kids’ ballet school operates a bus after school. I guarantee it doesn’t cost a million a year. Or even a quarter

I wonder where OP lives that there aren’t any kids in her neighborhood. Why would you want to raise kids there? Every single house in mine has 2-3 kids.

Maybe someone on this thread can confirm but I believe APS has to lease the parking from Arlington County and they have said before that an issue is that they have run out of parking for more busses.

Yes, parking for busses is a significant constraint, and costs APS a lot to lease parking space from the county.