Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has had this complaint about the Julius West MS buses for 3 years.

You're kidding. THREE YEARS? Did the PTA or school advocate with the transportation department?

PP here. DD has complained for 3 years. I understand the overcrowding has been going on since before she attended JW. Some parents choose to drive their kids to avoid the overcrowded buses, but that isn't a choice for all of us. I have no idea what the PTA or school has done, but kids are still regularly sitting in the aisle, so whatever advocacy there has been has not yet been effective.

Please email both your principal and the transportation folks! My JW child used to attend the Thomas Farm CC program afterschool on a very crowded Falls Grove bus. They added a second bus by the second week of school. No issues after that.

Anonymous wrote:Standing while the bus is in motion, this is very unsafe. Please contact transportation and the respective school. MCPS needs to come up with solutions, more children enrolling in mcps and the transportation and class size issues are not being addressed.

+100!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has had this complaint about the Julius West MS buses for 3 years.

You're kidding. THREE YEARS? Did the PTA or school advocate with the transportation department?

PP here. DD has complained for 3 years. I understand the overcrowding has been going on since before she attended JW. Some parents choose to drive their kids to avoid the overcrowded buses, but that isn't a choice for all of us. I have no idea what the PTA or school has done, but kids are still regularly sitting in the aisle, so whatever advocacy there has been has not yet been effective.

Aren't there liability issues for having so many kids on the bus? What happens if a kids gets injured in a bus accident who did not have room for a seat? Wouldn't the county be liable?

You all need to take pictures of these buses packed with kids and the carpool lanes and send widely to the local press.

This feels like a good local TV news 'expose.' That would get their attention.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Outrageous and dangerous...yet the stupid calendar debate will overshadow this truly important issue.

This. I feel like all the county cares about is the Achievement Gap and everything else is not worth their time.

Exactly!

I can tell you first hand as a Ritchie Park parent that the bus situation at Julius West is ridiculous and because so many parents now pick up their kids, and now they share the same bus loop, the busses are running 15-20min late everyday. All because of the carpool lanes.

Nothing will change. We have been complaining about class sizes, overcrowding in schools, overcrowding in busses for a decade and nothing has changed.

There are 3 in a row on our entire bus. It is awful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has had this complaint about the Julius West MS buses for 3 years.

You're kidding. THREE YEARS? Did the PTA or school advocate with the transportation department?

Parents, this is unacceptable. According to pps, the crowded bus situation has been ongoing at Julius West for three years, was only resolved at another school because parents started driving their kids. This approach just puts more cars on the road and disrupts commutes for working parents as well as traffic patterns. We just got a tax INCREASE in this county and we deserve to receive the minimum of base, core services -- at least.

PLEASE email, call or write your local elected officials. [b]It will make a difference. And remember, elections are coming up! The County is pushing more development with minimal education assessment fees on multifamily housing. If you think it's bad now, you ain't seen nothing yet.

MoCo Council & Planning Board Emails
councilmember.berliner@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.elrich@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.floreen@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.katz@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.hucker@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.leventhal@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.navarro@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.rice@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.riemer@montgomerycountymd.gov
ocemail@montgomerycountymd.gov
MCP-Chair@mncppc-mc.org
Pamela.Dunn@montgomeryplanning.org

Board of Education Emails
boe@mcpsmd.org (this ensures it goes on official record)
At-Large: Phillip Kaufman Phil_Kauffman@mcpsmd.org
At-Large: Jill_Ortman-Fouse@mcpsmd.org
Student Member: Eric_L_Guerci@mcpsmd.org
District 1 / VP, Montgomery Village, Judy Docca Judy_Docca@mcpsmd.org
District 2/Gaithersburg: rebecca_k_smondrowski@mcpsmd.org
District 3 / Bethesda Patricia_O'Neill@mcpsmd.org
District 4 / Takoma Park Christopher Barclay Christopher_Barclay@mcpsmd.org
District 5/ President Silver Spring Michael Durso Michael_A_Durso@mcpsmd.org

Student Member: Eric_L_Guerci@mcpsmd.org

Anonymous wrote:DD has had this complaint about the Julius West MS buses for 3 years.

You're kidding. THREE YEARS? Did the PTA or school advocate with the transportation department?