Reply to New MCPS Elementary School times

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "New MCPS Elementary School times"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We're at a Tier 2 school, and my kids will start at 925am, meaning about a 9am bus stop. It's awful - the school bus now comes later than the Metro buses in our neighborhood, which makes it impossible for anyone to use public transportation. And it puts many of us on the roads into DC after the rush hour protocols have ended, which will extend commute times considerably. Meanwhile, in the afternoon, the kids will be getting on the bus after rush hour has already begun in our area (near NIH.) So, much longer trips home. Thanks MCPS!

I'm all for pushing back bell times for older kids, BTW. But I doubt they get much benefit from a 20 minute AM reprieve. And there should have been much more careful consideration of the impact of simply randomly pushing back ALL bell times. [/quote]

I live in the NIH neighborhood, although must be at a different school, because we are Tier 1. (Not really sure where you could live, because the Wyngate catch area circles around most of NIH -- maybe you're south of NIH?).  At any rate, the metro buses and ride on run pretty regularly even after 9 -- I regularly go in after 9, and take either the metro bus or ride on.  Or you can always walk to metro, which I also do if I just miss a bus.  The only rush hour protocols I can think of are Connecticut Avenue, which run until 9:30, so if you leave after the school bus pickup, you'll be pretty far down CT by the time they stop the reversibles.  And traffic gets pretty light at that time of day.
I agree that it's bad news for all those people that need to be at work by 9 or 9:30, but, if you think it will make it "impossible for anyone to use public transportation," I respectfully suggest that you double-check the bus times, because they do run pretty frequently even after 9. I am anxious to see how the evening commute will screw up the afternoon buses..but my observation is that the commuting tangle in our neighborhood starts around 3 (or earlier), so I'm not sure that the 3:25 end will make that much of a difference.
[/quote]

I'm the first poster in this, and we live east of NIH in the Rosemary Hills/CCES&NCC/BCC zone. I respectfully suggest that what works in your neighborhood doesn't necessarily work in every neighborhood, PP. You have a Tier 1 start time and can walk to the metro, good for you. Surprise surprise, that's not true for everyone.

If you want the specifics, the J1 was changed last year, so it's last AM time was already a bit of stretch (e.g., parents would leave the kid at the busstop with other parents and try to catch the last bus), but now the last J1 will arrive at least 1/2 hour before the MCPS bus. Taking the L8 on Conn Ave at the 9am hour is basically impossible; it can be an hour plus to get to Friendship Heights metro, by the time I could get to downtown it would 1030am.

And no, if I put my kid on the bus at 9/905am (since it's never on time) and head for downtown, I will not make it through Van Ness and Cleveland Park before the 930am switch from 4 open inbound lanes to 2 open inbound lanes. I've done this every day for 6 years now, so I know the traffic patterns all too well. With an 845/850 bus pickup, I used to be able to squeak into the office at 930am some days, and close enough on others. Now the baseline will be 10am.

But PP, if you'd like I'd be happy to switch - your elementary can start at 925 and then you can lecture me on how easy it is for working parents.[/quote]

NP (no snark) but have you considered before care? I agree the new tier 2 time sucks ass and a lot of parents in this cluster will be in the same boat. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics