Is it right for a public school board to not pick up a student that lives .4 miles from a bus stop?

Question

my child goes to a st tammany parish public school and participates in school activities and the bus driver is refusing to pick my child up because "it's highschool" and they can walk .4 miles to get picked up. The problem is my child is the only student being picked up in wooded area with construction going on and they refused to pick my child up at its old jr high stop..well my child was 14 years old in jr high and still 14 years old in high school so whats the difference? they said if my child lives a half mile from the highway then they will pick them up at its old stop..its .4 miles and the highway is not visible from my house and they said they will do an investegation and school started august 8 and they still havent gotten back with me. is there anything i can do?

Answer 1

Rules are rules. It might seem unfair or not right, but let's say they changed it to .4--then somebody's going to complain that if they can allow .4, why not .3? And then why not .2? Then they end up picking everybody up.

Yes, there is something you can do. You can call them again instead of waiting for them to get back to you. You can also have your daughter walk to the bus stop. It would take her, what, 7 minutes? You work out a safe route together and let her do it. .4 miles is not that far. If that's how far away the school was, you'd have her walk it, wouldn't you?

Answer 2

People walk and bike miles to work everyday, and some people have longer commutes to their bus stops than your child. Where I came from, some parents dropped their kids off at the bus stop because it was " too far to walk. " I say the kid can deal with a bit of walking, it never killed anybody.

Answer 3

Your only option probably is to petition the school board.

In my area, all children who live less than 1 mile from school must walk to the elementary school.  For middle school children, they can't get the bus unless they live more than 1 1/2 miles from school.  High school students must live more than 2 miles from school to ride the bus.

They do sometimes make exceptions if there is a limited access highway (i.e. the interstate, which does run thru the middle of town) on the child's walking route.  But beyond that, no dice.

Answer 4

OK first i have to say GO SKIPPERS!!!! LOL!

I had to walk that distance to school every day. I used to live in Weldon Park and had to walk to MHS. They didn't even provide our neighborhood a bus. Yes I know 2 blocks (about the same distance you son is walking). But that was rain or shine hot or cold. I think you need to get a bit of a grip and realize that all areas are looking for ways to cut back on gas use and your son may have to walk a bit farther. Also with all the construction can the driver even make it into your neighborhood safely? I know of a few neighborhoods with very narrow streets near construction zones. If it's not safe for the bus driver to make the turn into your street of neighborhood should he endanger the safety of the kids already on the bus let alone his.

If this is really that big on an issue then drive him to school.

What does this have to do with home school?    

Answer 5

Gas prices will create more of a need for public school bus transportation.  Parents who had been taking kids to school are calling and scheduling new stops for drivers.

Our district is consolidating stops.   It was explained to us that our school district will begin to follow state guidelines instead of creating our own stops for the convenience of students.

It is inconvenient for your child but it is one of the things that everyone is facing in our economic situation.   I expect it will get much worse.

My prediction is that more people will consider homeschooling and distance learning as options.

Answer 6

I agree with you I wouldn't want my child walking either considering but it is not the schools responsbility it is yours.

If your a single parent you need to find someone who you trust to take him or find the way to work it out with your work so you can or drop him/her off a half hour early and send them to the school office to wait for school to start.

It is not the governments responsibility to make sure your child is safe it is yours.