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This situation is so bad, that I initially thought it was a joke...but nope. Let me just say this....if my kindergartner was on that bus I would be FREAKING PISSED! I cant believe the parents aren't demanding heads roll over this travesty! Does DCPS not get the magnitude of this situation? This idiot was driving drunk with a busload full of FIVE YEAR OLDS 
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And that the school Chancellor was allowed to respond to those shaken parents with such weak excuses makes this so much worse. Given his very cavalier affect during that meeting, it seems 100% likely that something like this will happen again. Like really, that was the best he could do? Again, these were kindergartners...they're just starting school and have their entire lives ahead of them...all of that could have been taken away in an instant by some loser drunk that DCPS (or whomever) didn't take the time to vet?
Thankfully, none of the kids were injured, but I'm sure they were all traumatized to some extent. If one of those kids was my kid, I'd definitely be preparing to sue any and everybody who dropped the ball with this...DCPS included. And for the person who asked what claims could be brought....negligence, reckless endangerment and intentional infliction of emotional distress to start.
My youngest child (now a 6th grader) was in Pre-k and K at J.O. Wilson some years ago, and whenever they went on a field trip, I went too. His teachers were amazing and I loved the leadership at the school, but there were too many instances during the normal course of the school week where their institutional judgement didn't align with my parental judgement. And because of that, I never felt at ease sending my child on a field trip with them unless I went too.
I went to the zoo, the pumpkin patch, Disney on Ice, the museums, the Kennedy Center and anywhere else they went. It wasn't always easy to shuffle my schedule so that I could attend trips with the class...and I really should not have had to do it, but I just wasn't comfortable sending my child without me or my husband being there. What's sad is that, in some schools at least, it's still that way. Parents should be able to trust that the school can handle getting kids from the school yard to the pumpkin patch without say...the bus driver running off the road and into a ditch because he was drunk.
!
And that the school Chancellor was allowed to respond to those shaken parents with such weak excuses makes this so much worse. Given his very cavalier affect during that meeting, it seems 100% likely that something like this will happen again. Like really, that was the best he could do? Again, these were kindergartners...they're just starting school and have their entire lives ahead of them...all of that could have been taken away in an instant by some loser drunk that DCPS (or whomever) didn't take the time to vet?
Thankfully, none of the kids were injured, but I'm sure they were all traumatized to some extent. If one of those kids was my kid, I'd definitely be preparing to sue any and everybody who dropped the ball with this...DCPS included. And for the person who asked what claims could be brought....negligence, reckless endangerment and intentional infliction of emotional distress to start.
My youngest child (now a 6th grader) was in Pre-k and K at J.O. Wilson some years ago, and whenever they went on a field trip, I went too. His teachers were amazing and I loved the leadership at the school, but there were too many instances during the normal course of the school week where their institutional judgement didn't align with my parental judgement. And because of that, I never felt at ease sending my child on a field trip with them unless I went too.
I went to the zoo, the pumpkin patch, Disney on Ice, the museums, the Kennedy Center and anywhere else they went. It wasn't always easy to shuffle my schedule so that I could attend trips with the class...and I really should not have had to do it, but I just wasn't comfortable sending my child without me or my husband being there. What's sad is that, in some schools at least, it's still that way. Parents should be able to trust that the school can handle getting kids from the school yard to the pumpkin patch without say...the bus driver running off the road and into a ditch because he was drunk.
