Reply to Can we spreadload FRL% across APS? Arlington / Education Newbie here

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't know how to pay for transportation costs of bussing, but first step would be to price it out and see what kind of numbers we're working with. I like the Amazon idea - perhaps a grant or donation for a trial period of time would dovetail nicely with their investment / interest in building local tech talent. But they can't pursue that without actual numbers / some research being done. And that's an issue. I understand there's a counterpoint to everything but don't let that stop truly defining the problem and scoping out options for solutions. [/quote]

Likely a multi-faceted solution - like most things are when solved correctly and effectively.
Add the County coordinating ART bus routes and giving middle and high schoolers free fare.  That frees up more buses and routes for elementary which will help reduce the travel times of long bus routes.
Also, bus drivers want full-time hours; so add in bus routes at the end of extended day.  Those routes shouldn't take as long because there are likely fewer kids needing a bus home at that time.  As pointed out before, APS already provides late buses for kids staying for extra-curricular activities.  Provide a second round of late buses for extended day.  Or, heaven forbid, eliminate extended day.  Which would parents prefer:  no extended day, or driving an extra 15 minutes on their way home to pick-up their kids?
And again, APS has and could expand offering shuttle services from select neighborhood locations to school events.  Change the stupid way parent-teacher conferences are done now and make them more of an open house in the gym (Gunston used to do this)  Parents just line up to see the teachers they want to talk to instead of signing up for time slots and seeing just the homeroom teacher.  If parents need more time to talk with a teacher, they should be making independent appointments with them anyway regardless of PT conferences.[/quote]
So the late bus is really late for middle school -- 2 hours after school gets out.  Its literally a single bus most of the time and it doesn't make over 50% of the stops -- stops are within a half mile of most people's existing stops, but its not like your normal bus stop.  So you'd like a bus for extended day (which would leave I'm guessing at 5/5:30), and would drop your kid a half mile (in the dark during daylight savings) from your normal stop so you can pick your kid up from there at some really rigid time?  This sounds like a great idea![/quote]

So glad you agree!   :lol:  :roll:   This is what people who just don't want anything to ever change do - they shoot down every single suggestion, find any reason to criticize it and deem it infeasible, then ask for solutions.  Just because you don't like the solution doesn't mean it isn't a solution or wouldn't be an improvement or part of an overall solution.

I'm not even sure what your point about middle school late buses is.  Parents generally pickup their kids from extended day at the same time each day. If parents still want to pick them up before a late bus would leave, they could do so.  Or, instead of having to drive so far out of their way, they could just let the late bus bring their kids closer to home and meet them there at that time.  The parents would be meeting elementary kids at the bus stop; so I don't see the relevance of your DST point at all.  [/quote]

Get your kid into an option school or move. Lottery for all elementary kids is not coming to Arlington anytime soon. You can argue all you want but it’s not going to happen. [/quote]

My kids are already in high school. And they attended all of their assigned schools.  And we didn't use extended day.  I'm participating in a discussion, not advocating for my self-interests...unlike some others.[/quote]

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