Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Send your kid to a neighborhood school or STFU

The school board should say they’re not providing transportation to option schools or make sure safe transportation is provided for all students. If half the kids at an option school have safe and convenient bus stops, and the other half don’t, that starts to feel like unequal access.

So? The whole option school system is unequal access.

+1

And how does one family have THREE kids in an option school?

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused, your kid goes to Glebe Elementary but doesn't attend Glebe Elementary?

NP. Glebe is a hub stop (bus stop) for at least one of the option elementary schools.

Yes, there is a light, and also a crossing guard, but only at the time Glebe students are arriving. How is that redundant?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Send your kid to a neighborhood school or STFU

The school board should say they’re not providing transportation to option schools or make sure safe transportation is provided for all students. If half the kids at an option school have safe and convenient bus stops, and the other half don’t, that starts to feel like unequal access.

So? The whole option school system is unequal access.

Well you picked an option school. You knew what you were getting into.

My kids go to an option school but I have trouble having sympathy when there is a neighborhood school option. Is there another hub stop that is a longer walk but involves crossing fewer streets?

Anonymous wrote:Send your kid to a neighborhood school or STFU

The school board should say they’re not providing transportation to option schools or make sure safe transportation is provided for all students. If half the kids at an option school have safe and convenient bus stops, and the other half don’t, that starts to feel like unequal access.

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?


Huh???? Upfront, I don't support option schools. At all. However, option schools are a fact of life, and kids should have a safe route to school. Glebe has been a hub for several years, with the pickup/drop off inconveniently at the top of the parking lot (the bus used to pull through and stop down towards to Glebe). And ideally there should be a crossing guard for the hub students too. Cars routinely run that light at 18th and Glebe, even when the crossing guard is there. But it's also extremely difficult to keep crossing guards (the guard at 18th and Glebe is a wonderful human, btw). So end of day, the on the ground, realtime solution is to work with your 5th grader to get them comfortable safely crossing with their siblings (unfortunate responsible that 5th grader has to take on, I know) or you walk them.

All of that said, what is your actual concern about Glebe parents milling around? Huh? What? Why? They need to wait for their own students somewhere???? Or do you mean there should be no hub at Glebe at all? Because that I could support. I assume if Glebe is your hub that some of those parents are you neighbors. You should try saying hello.

Kids deserve to have safe bus stops no matter what APS school they attend.

Send your kid to a neighborhood school or STFU

We are in an option school and have a terrible bus stop too. We just don't use the bus. We are thankfully able to do that.

I'm sorry your stop isn't great. They introduced hub stops to try to reduce bus riding time for some of the furthest away kids. I do agree it's not the best solution.

The option schools are an option (and, IMO, a luxury). You don't have to send your kids there. If walkability or nearby bus service is important to you, go to your neighborhood school.

I'm confused, your kid goes to Glebe Elementary but doesn't attend Glebe Elementary?

And isn’t there a light at Glebe? A light plus a crossing guard seems redundant.

You could drive to the hub. Or send to your neighborhood school.

This is one the big reasons why APS should reconsider offering option schools.

This is the 3rd year my kids have been assigned hub stops for their elementary option school and I am dismayed that they ask kids as young as Pre-K to cross so many major roads to get to the stops. I have sent countless emails to the school, school board, transportation department and superintendent, and nothing has changed. I have had Zoom meetings with the transportation head and one APS school board member. What else can I do? The form response the country transportation department is that parents have to "partner" with the school to get our children to the stops safely, but by 4th or 5th grade, kids should be able to walk safely to their bus stop (without having to cross major roads without assistance from a crossing guard). There is no way I'd allow my older children to walk without me across these dangerous streets, and I know I am not alone. There are kids are assigned hub stops requiring them to cross Wilson, Columbia Pike, George Mason - even Arlington Blvd.

Last year, it was an 18 minute walk for my 1st, 4th and 5th grader to get to the hub stops. We had to cross Quincy and Washington Blvd.
This year, they moved us to Glebe Elementary, which means we are crossing Glebe Road. There is no crossing guard to help us safely cross Glebe Road, like there is when the Glebe students walk to school. 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?

The number of parents who have given up on the buses and are driving their kids to the school is staggering - which leads way more traffic/accidents, angry neighbors and general chaos. If the stops were placed in safe, more accessible locations, so many of these issues would be solved.

Reaching out here to see if anyone has constructive suggestions that I could try to shed light on the danger involved with the current model, and to see if other option school families would chime in to share their experiences.