APS Hub Stops -

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New poster. Haven't read all of the comments, but, have noted the general hostility.

We are an option school family. Our hub stop requires crossing S Carlin Springs Road. Thankfully either my spouse or myself are able to escort or drive our children to the stop everyday, but, there is no way I'd allow our kindergartener and 4th grader to attempt that crossing on their own.

Now my own safety concerns aside, S Carlin Springs Road is the main artery for Kenmore, Campbell, and accessing Carlin Springs Elementary School. Every day there are countless kids trying to navigate that wildly unsafe stretch of road--which has no buffer between the street and sidewalk in many long stretches, and it boggles my mind that the county does not even at least put in a crossing guard at one of the key interchanges. For a county and school system that will die on the hill of equity, they apparently are only willing to do in certain instances which most suit them. I have raised my concerns to the County Board and School Board, and know that there are even groups advocating for greater pedestrian safety, and yet, here we are...

Carlin Springs Rd near Kenmore is such a dangerous stretch of road for pedestrians and vehicular traffic. You could dispatch an entire fleet of crossing guards and it would still be unsafe. I agree that the county needs to take significant measures to fix that mess. I’ve had kids literally fall off the sidewalk in front of my vehicle as school is letting out (I stopped without incident, but it’s not something a crossing guard would have prevented).

Please advocate to the county board accordingly! I'm the PP that you quoted, and I've invited board members out to walk that stretch with me, and one of them did take me up on it, but, if there's only a few voices advocating, it is easy for them to push aside or dismiss. I appreciate that it will be a difficult fix, but, as elected officials they signed up to tackle difficult situations and should rise to the occasion.

[Anonymous]

AGAIN…send your kid to the neighborhood school or STFU!!!! Those are the ONLY options

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AGAIN…send your kid to the neighborhood school or STFU!!!! Those are the ONLY options

There are meds that can help with this level of anger and aggression. Please talk to your HCP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New poster. Haven't read all of the comments, but, have noted the general hostility.

We are an option school family. Our hub stop requires crossing S Carlin Springs Road. Thankfully either my spouse or myself are able to escort or drive our children to the stop everyday, but, there is no way I'd allow our kindergartener and 4th grader to attempt that crossing on their own.

Now my own safety concerns aside, S Carlin Springs Road is the main artery for Kenmore, Campbell, and accessing Carlin Springs Elementary School. Every day there are countless kids trying to navigate that wildly unsafe stretch of road--which has no buffer between the street and sidewalk in many long stretches, and it boggles my mind that the county does not even at least put in a crossing guard at one of the key interchanges. For a county and school system that will die on the hill of equity, they apparently are only willing to do in certain instances which most suit them. I have raised my concerns to the County Board and School Board, and know that there are even groups advocating for greater pedestrian safety, and yet, here we are...

Carlin Springs Rd near Kenmore is such a dangerous stretch of road for pedestrians and vehicular traffic. You could dispatch an entire fleet of crossing guards and it would still be unsafe. I agree that the county needs to take significant measures to fix that mess. I’ve had kids literally fall off the sidewalk in front of my vehicle as school is letting out (I stopped without incident, but it’s not something a crossing guard would have prevented).

We are near Carlin Springs Rd too and attend the middle school. It's so bad at this point with the traffic and pedestrians. We hate having to walk around in that area and we live right there. I've been advocating for some sort of change but it's not something that anyone wants to hear about. I won't be sad when we are done with Kenmore for that reason along.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:people here are so foul. i am not in favor of option schools but if there are unsafe bus stops it shouldn’t matter where kids go. APS has so many issues at this point let’s just add this to the list. please stop making jabs at families who entered a lottery and got in and put that time and energy to writing APS about stopping lottery schools. or any of the other issues we all have with APS.

What OP is describing isn't an unsafe bus stop. It is at an elementary school that many other children, OP's neighbors in fact, walk to every day. But that's not good enough for OP. OP wants to go to an option school that, by definition, needs to serve the whole county geography, and thinks they also deserve door to door bus service. Enough already.

OP is not complaining that the stop is unsafe. It's the route the kids have to walk to to get to the stop that is unsafe. If APS considers major roads in determining walk zones for neighborhood schools, they should be giving the same consideration to hub stops.

Ehhh...it seems that OP did directly say that the hub is unsafe, she asked why Glebe admin, parents, teachers weren't worried about Glebe parents mingling with option children or whatever it is she's worried about? What I don't understand is that OP's kids would have otherwise attended Glebe and would have had to cross Glebe Rd and most 5th graders are crossing alone to/from school. It seems to me she's just anti her own neighborhood, which tracks with an option school for many. I hope my kid gives her cooties.

Can you read? OP said that APS is providing a crossing guard for glebe students need one but not when the option school students need one.

Yeah, good try OP. Here's what you originally wrote, "To boot, the parents mill around Glebe ES in the afternoon waiting for our own children's bus to arrive; often while Glebe kindergarten kids are having class outside on nice days. How is this not a huge safety and security concern for Glebe admins, teachers and parents?"

As a Glebe parent, no I have no safety concerns. But you do come across as really entitled to have someone else solve your self inflicted problem. Either teach your 5th grader to cross the street at Glebe without the crossing guard, while also watching their siblings, or walk your children. Or, wild thought here, make some adult friends who can take turns walking kids to the hub. Plenty of Glebe kids cross without the crossing guard because they get to school before she arrives or after she leaves, because they are in patrol, run clubs, enrichment and so on. Is crossing at Glebe ideal or reliably safe, nope, but also it seems to be both (a) your neighborhood school and thus the route your kids would take anyhow; and (b) your choice to attend an option. Lobby for a change in hubs stops to APS but don't pretend that there aren't decisions you can personally make to help your own kids.

And considering how hard it is to find and keep crossing guards, no I don't think we should be paying for a crossing guard to help a few kids across a busy road in their own neighborhood simply because their parents chose to not use the neighborhood school. We all have to make the same decisions that you are making, we just take ownership of them. Either utilize the option system and advocate for a change to hubs or grow up and take responsibility for your choice to utilize an option and its impact on your kid's safety. In short, pound sand.

Can I read...ha...yes, yes I can.

I’m not OP though. You are so hostile to parents of option schools. Quite pathetic really.

Yes, I'm hostile to entitled parents who do not take responsibility for their own choices. Correct.

There is no reason to be hostile to the idea that the hub stops could be better located. They are poorly thought out. What does that have to do with parents taking responsibility? There's no reason to think that parents are responsible for the placement of the current hub stops.

Not OP but PP that hostile PP is responding to. My sense is that hostile PP hates option school families and believes that option school families should not advocate for safer stops because they willingly chose to send their kids to an option school.

If there are street lights with walk signals how is that not "safe"? DP.

Have you seen traffic in Arlington???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AGAIN…send your kid to the neighborhood school or STFU!!!! Those are the ONLY options

Let's try this - Option schools are part of APS. You CHOSE to live in Arlington and you CHOSE send your kids to APS. Therefore, your only options are to 1) accept the option schools or 2) leave APS. Or I guess there is a #3: you can stew in anger and resentment during your kids' entire careers in APS. Good luck with that.

[Anonymous]

The real solution is less bussing for neighborhoods, because half the average populations drive, and more busses for options. It would still be a net positive savings for APS. But they can't do this common sense solution because the walkability nonsense and the facade that people want a bus for your neighborhood school even though SO MANY drive their kids. Yes, this is well known inside system.

[Anonymous]

I don't like our hub stop either, OP. The road isn't as busy as the one you're describing though. However, it is a double yellow line road with no sidewalks, and the only way at least half the kids (not mine) can get to the hub stop is to walk (or be driven) along a curved road that goes over a hill and has no sidewalks.

I drive to the hub stop because its faster than walking and the bus comes so early. I drove straight to school we could leave 30 minutes later than we do. My kids like to see their friends on the bus so we do that.

[Anonymous]

The early start times are far worse than the location of the hub stops in my opinion. Having young kids get on a bus at 6:45am is ABSURD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AGAIN…send your kid to the neighborhood school or STFU!!!! Those are the ONLY options

Let's try this - Option schools are part of APS. You CHOSE to live in Arlington and you CHOSE send your kids to APS. Therefore, your only options are to 1) accept the option schools or 2) leave APS. Or I guess there is a #3: you can stew in anger and resentment during your kids' entire careers in APS. Good luck with that.

This. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Walk with your children and cross at the light. Unfortunately hub bus stops probably needed for budget and logistical reasons.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:people here are so foul. i am not in favor of option schools but if there are unsafe bus stops it shouldn’t matter where kids go. APS has so many issues at this point let’s just add this to the list. please stop making jabs at families who entered a lottery and got in and put that time and energy to writing APS about stopping lottery schools. or any of the other issues we all have with APS.

What OP is describing isn't an unsafe bus stop. It is at an elementary school that many other children, OP's neighbors in fact, walk to every day. But that's not good enough for OP. OP wants to go to an option school that, by definition, needs to serve the whole county geography, and thinks they also deserve door to door bus service. Enough already.

OP is not complaining that the stop is unsafe. It's the route the kids have to walk to to get to the stop that is unsafe. If APS considers major roads in determining walk zones for neighborhood schools, they should be giving the same consideration to hub stops.

Ehhh...it seems that OP did directly say that the hub is unsafe, she asked why Glebe admin, parents, teachers weren't worried about Glebe parents mingling with option children or whatever it is she's worried about? What I don't understand is that OP's kids would have otherwise attended Glebe and would have had to cross Glebe Rd and most 5th graders are crossing alone to/from school. It seems to me she's just anti her own neighborhood, which tracks with an option school for many. I hope my kid gives her cooties.

Can you read? OP said that APS is providing a crossing guard for glebe students need one but not when the option school students need one.

Yeah, good try OP. Here's what you originally wrote, "To boot, the parents mill around Glebe ES in the afternoon waiting for our own children's bus to arrive; often while Glebe kindergarten kids are having class outside on nice days. How is this not a huge safety and security concern for Glebe admins, teachers and parents?"

As a Glebe parent, no I have no safety concerns. But you do come across as really entitled to have someone else solve your self inflicted problem. Either teach your 5th grader to cross the street at Glebe without the crossing guard, while also watching their siblings, or walk your children. Or, wild thought here, make some adult friends who can take turns walking kids to the hub. Plenty of Glebe kids cross without the crossing guard because they get to school before she arrives or after she leaves, because they are in patrol, run clubs, enrichment and so on. Is crossing at Glebe ideal or reliably safe, nope, but also it seems to be both (a) your neighborhood school and thus the route your kids would take anyhow; and (b) your choice to attend an option. Lobby for a change in hubs stops to APS but don't pretend that there aren't decisions you can personally make to help your own kids.

And considering how hard it is to find and keep crossing guards, no I don't think we should be paying for a crossing guard to help a few kids across a busy road in their own neighborhood simply because their parents chose to not use the neighborhood school. We all have to make the same decisions that you are making, we just take ownership of them. Either utilize the option system and advocate for a change to hubs or grow up and take responsibility for your choice to utilize an option and its impact on your kid's safety. In short, pound sand.

Can I read...ha...yes, yes I can.

I’m not OP though. You are so hostile to parents of option schools. Quite pathetic really.

Yes, I'm hostile to entitled parents who do not take responsibility for their own choices. Correct.

There is no reason to be hostile to the idea that the hub stops could be better located. They are poorly thought out. What does that have to do with parents taking responsibility? There's no reason to think that parents are responsible for the placement of the current hub stops.

Not OP but PP that hostile PP is responding to. My sense is that hostile PP hates option school families and believes that option school families should not advocate for safer stops because they willingly chose to send their kids to an option school.

If there are street lights with walk signals how is that not "safe"? DP.

Have you seen traffic in Arlington???

Yes. And the traffic is stopped by street lights. I wish we had a stop light for our neighborhood school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The real solution is less bussing for neighborhoods, because half the average populations drive, and more busses for options. It would still be a net positive savings for APS. But they can't do this common sense solution because the walkability nonsense and the facade that people want a bus for your neighborhood school even though SO MANY drive their kids. Yes, this is well known inside system.

Yep, you are absolutely right. I do not see how the two current APS proposals (bus kids to closed-Nottingham-swing-space during renovations; bus Swanson kids to under enrolled Williamsburg) are going to work without more buses (which APS says it cannot afford, has no place to store them) and more bus drivers (which APS cannot recruit and retain). Substituting hub stops for some neighborhood busing is the only "cost-free" solution. OP, perhaps when placement of hub stops is an "everybody" problem instead of a "county-wide school-only" problem, it will get more attention?

[Anonymous]

Also, the OP's missives to the board really focus on the issues outlined here but with more detail. Hubs are for all schools too so hub schools should have their lower speed limit flashy things on for longer. I might not be explaining it but when OP's kids cross Glebe, as with the others who use that Hub, traffic slowing lights are not flashing. True of all hub stops. Turn on that stuff. Safer for kids, the bus drivers and distracted drivers. Same in the Pm