Should the school(s) or district have any say in how your kids get to school?

I drive my daughter to school too - she is five and in kindergarten. The school she attends is very close, like 2 or 3 minutes by car even when I drive the back way. Now when she's bigger, she may want to walk but I don't think I'm going to let her because sometimes the traffic is bad and it takes at least 12 minutes to WALK (she is slow because she's small) and I'm always worrying about child predators and other creepy people who target little girls. We have some new friends in the neighborhood but since the kids would all be coming from different directions, they couldn't walk together. We live too close to use the bus and I am reluctant to put her on a bus too.

I also don't think it's fair to jail PARENTS if their kids don't attend school. They have no idea what some parents go thru just to force or bribe their kids lol. They also have no idea about kids who get on the bus and go to school and then LEAVE CAMPUS all day and come back in time to get back on the bus, then those kids intercept the phone calls from the school that typically inform a parent that their student was absent periods 1-6 on such and such a date and they don't bring home the letters from the school that state their student now has too many absences etc etc. By the time the parent is aware there's a problem, it can be a HUGE problem. When the parents both work full time and commute or a single parent works two jobs, the kids sometimes get away with things they wouldn't if a parent were home with them to keep an eye or prevent it.

We start school pretty early - at 7:20. I thought it would be HORRIBLE. Turns out it isn't that bad. The high school starts at 7:15 I think. The thing a lot of people forget is the earlier you start, the earlier you get out and technically the more time you have for fun things... I don't necessarily believe that younger or older kids always need more or less sleep. I believe that some people need a significant amount of sleep and others don't, and it doesn't matter whether they're four or fifty. I'm not what I'd call a morning person but I manage to get up by 5:20ish every morning. I don't LIKE it but I can do it. My daughter isn't a morning person either. Left to her own devices without me or an alarm clock, she would stay up till 11:30 and then not get up the next morning till 9. Like me though, she can get up early and get to school every morning, and she's usually in a fairly good mood by the time 7:10 rolls around, even if she wasn't at 6 am.

I also live very close to my daughter's school. My daughter is 4 and she's attending pre-kindergarden right now. Even though we live close to the school, a bus comes by this way to pick up the kids. I don't want her to ride the bus. There was an incident not to long ago where a semi-truck crashed into the back of a school bus while the bus was picking up kids at the bus stop. A very talented middle school girl died in the accident. The man driving the semi was texting on his cell phone instead of pay attention to the road. I think I'll stick to driving my daughter to school.

I just think my daughter is too young to ride a bus. On the FIRST DAY we found out a child was put onto a school bus to go home and they were a PICK UP, not a buser. The parent was at the gate with me and she was horrified that her child was riding around on a bus. Now MY daughter would TELL them that she doesn't ride a bus, and she wouldn't get on it, but I guess this kid just got on because an adult told them to.

I think people need to start being clearer with kids, even young kids. If you KNOW what an adult is asking you to do is wrong or NOT what your parents want or think is okay, then don't do it. Have the guts to stick to what you know. It is SO important, especially these days when so many people are NOT looking out for the best interests of kids.

My teenager takes a bus in the morning and then since he stays late, he either skateboards or catches a city bus. Either way he is alone during this time. He's also a senior in high school. I cannot imagine them telling me he can't do this, but just in case, I think I'd laugh at them. Imagine, telling an 18 year old senior who is technically an adult how he can and cannot go to and from school. Please.

I also would not want to be forced to use a certain type of transportation, like if he HAD a car and could drive, I would not want them REQUIRING him to take a bus lol. The whole idea just ticks me off.

I think they need to leave it up to the parents. In a situation where they do not believe the parents actually KNOW or are thinking in the kids' best interest, perhaps they can intervene, but I too believe in case by case basis ONLY and also ONLY if there is actual proof or evidence that the child in question may have a safety issue related to how they are getting to and from school.

My son had an accident on his bike once, a truck door hit him and knocked him off the bike! It wasn't intentional, he was hurt but not severely, and it did not interfere with him riding to school in the future. If the whole neighborhood was not safe, I wouldn't do anything EXCEPT drive the kids to school and pick them up, but I also heard about a parent who let her 9 year old tool around alone on the subway and to her that was normal. I dunno what people are smoking these days...

I always tried to ensure my older kids were together - walking or biking, or with at least one other friend. This worked out pretty well for them. I don't think it's going to work out that way for my little one unless we are blessed by having good friends move onto our street lol. The kids we know DO live close, but in all different directions around the school as a central point. We live about 5 or 6 blocks from it, as do our friends, but imagine it like the school as the center of a wheel and all of us are the spokes lol. None of the kids would be coming from or going the same direction so that kills the whole idea of a group of them going together. I also would not be comfortable with that until they were at least 11 or 12... and that signals the point they'd be in junior high anyway, which means the next school and THAT'S not close any more.

We DO have sidewalks that extend from the corner of our street and they do continue down to the school, but that isn't the case for everybody, and that is only the most direct route, which is the busiest street. For kids riding bikes, it's fairly safe, but the speed people go is 45+ and it can be unnerving if the cars get too close to the curb.

I agree that a SUGGESTION may be made if there is a serious safety concern, but I still feel that it is up to a parent. If the parent is a moron, well, there are other things that can be done at that point. I just hate how entities like to punish EVERYBODY instead of just the person they actually intend the punishment for....

My concerns about the bus aren't just that the driver may not be careful, it's actually the conduct and behavior of OTHER KIDS ON THE BUS. I also hear all the time about how kids get bullied and hit and things taken away from them and the bus driver does nothing, there is no consequence. IF this is true, it's horrible and kids who get caught bullying other kids on the bus ought to lose their bus privelages temporarily, and then if they do it again, permanently.

They tried to claim it was a safety thing - the kid in question was in THIRD GRADE. I think if you live fairly close, within a quarter mile of a school and there are sidewalks or wide streets or a bike lane and your kid KNOWS how to ride a bike and has a helmet and they are 8 and in 3rd grade, I don't see a problem. At least not for that parent - whose kid had been getting to school that way just fine. The SCHOOL just decided arbitrarily that they could not go to school that way. I also think it would be just fine for a kid that age to walk home - IF that's how the parent wanted them to go.

My friend's son is almost 8 and his bus drops him off right at the corner of his street. His house is like 3 houses down - one house, an empty lot, then his house. When the bus drops him off, he can SEE his driveway, and if you are standing in it, you can SEE him. Last year if I was there to get him, I actually parked my car by where the bus dropped him off, but he was barely 7 last year. This year I see nothing wrong with him walking down 3 houses from where he's dropped off. NOW. Would I do the same with my daughter? No, but she doesn't take a bus. I'd let her walk 3 houses by herself though if I were standing in the driveway lol.

I agree with you about the transportation issue, but I am personally tired of seeing little boy's underwear because who ever is responsible for buying there clothes lets them buy pants that are 10 sizes to big. I am working with 5th graders and despite a dress code that is not very hard at all, parents still let their children dress for school like they are going to a club.

The schools are too involved but only because parents are no longer involved and so someone has to do it. That being said I know that there are many parents that do take care of their children. I also know how many children are being raised by grandparents because mom and dad just do not care.

I still cant agree with the school telling us what to buy the kids to wear. What should have been done was the kids that dressed like want to be hoods and little tarts should be made to change in school and given a punishment that would also include a parent meeting. Instead of taking it out on all the students.
I know all to well the kids that you are talking about funny thing even with a dress code in our school kids still get away with breaking the rules, they just have to be the cheerleaders and such to get away with it.
As for grandparents raising grandbabies I understand that one too as we are raising our granddaughter and have had her since birth, she is now 2.

Oh.. don't even let me get started with dress codes. I don't like seeing underwear and thongs either and I'm not sure I like the skinny jeans any more than I liked the '4 sizes too big' era either yet THAT could be combatted WITHOUT making kids wear uniforms or only 3 colors/types of clothing ie blue or tan khaki type pants or skirt, blue, white or red polo shirts lol.

I think it stops way back at the beginning. Yes it's mandatory for kids to go to school or be enrolled in a course of studies that ensures they pass the state standards for each year from 1st-12th grade, but how that happens should be dependent on the program and the knowledge students demonstrate they have learned and know. I don't care how many hours (or how few hours), where, when, how, etc as long as the kids can spit out that information on a test enough times to prove they know it and can thus 'pass' the standards. This is why I feel it has NOTHING to do with the length of the day, the length of the school year, how anybody dresses, what district or school they attend, how they get to school, or any other excuse they try to give. When someone gives me direct evidence and proof that makes sense that those things have any correlation with how kids perform on tests or how much they know and retain, then and only then can those be included LOL!

I agree too with punishing the kids that break the rules AFTER the fact, not pre-emtively punishing EVERYBODY for crimes they have not committed yet. There's nothing that annoys me more than getting hit with some 'guideline' or 'rule' or 'specification' which exists because 'other people made mistakes'. I am not other people! However, if powers that be go about ASSUMING that I am, what are my choices? The high road? Turn the other cheek? Or simply act exactly as they ASSUME I did already? Gee.... choices, choices.

That is how I feel, why should my children and I be punished because so and so lets their child/children dress like little tarts or some wanna be gangster! Hmmm do gangsters actually dress like that? LOL! Anyways to punish someone (let alone alot of people) for a few to me is just not right.

My daughter's school has a policy of only allowing kids to be dropped off against the curb, and when they get off the buses, it is directly against the curb in the bus circle. Kids can only be picked up directly from the curb or sidewalk in front by the fence too... they don't let kids walk off the sidewalk alone, even the older kids. The ones who walk or bike are released through the gate with the street sidewalk so they totally bypass the pickup area by the fence and the bus circle.

I agree with you that giving perks for having kids there on time and every day is MUCH better than penalizing kids for NOT coming on time or NOT coming every day, or God forbid HOW they get to school.

LOL! I like dropping my daughter off. I get to see my friends in the morning and afternoon too . My mom always drove me and picked me up until I went to high school and then I walked.

I hope that the parent gets her way. This issue was something I actually saw on the news, and I don't think it's right that any school THOUGHT they had a say AT ALL. The very idea is offensive to me. When we as members of society start allowing things like this by just accepting it, it becomes easier for SOCIETY itself to continue the slippery slope and for government to begin controlling other things they have no business touching.

Oh I agree with you on that too!! I think it's enough that the schools took out soda machines and other things. I feel that if parents want to send treats, then they should be able to. The school can institute a policy that kids cannot share, and enforce that any way they see fit, but I disagree with them telling you that you can ONLY send certain snacks. I send a lot of fruit with my daughter, or pretzels, crackers and cheese, sometimes the lunchables. I avoid peanut butter because of kids with allergies, I don't send soda because it's messy - not because I'm 'not supposed to', I don't send cupcakes or other junk because snack time is a 9, too early for dessert lol. If I felt like sending her something like that though, I don't think it would pose a problem. I do see a lot of kids who have treats and none of them have been confiscated so far.

What did they put on your list of allowed snacks? I'm just curious lol.

It was things like, one small sandwich with marmite or honey on it wrapped in tin foil, one piece of fruit, one cheesestring, things like that. I think the sandwich got me the most haha I thought that was funny!

So kids can have bread with honey but not other treats, come on! LOL! Is it the fact that it's considered a sandwich mean they think it's healthier than a pack of fruit snacks or a cupcake? LOL!

haha I know thats what made me chuckle, I had a look for the letter with the list on so I could tell you but it seems to have vanished!