I can't remember if I've blogged about our bus issue ever, but yesterday I finally decided enough was enough!! In our small section of our neighborhood two buses have always run. I've always thought it was a little extreme, but parents have insured me that they'd been told it was for safety reasons, namely that smaller children were not to cross the "busy" street at the top of our court. I could buy that. It's actually not all that "busy," but we have our share of crazy drivers (mostly moms, I'm ashamed to admit) who whip around the neighborhood at lightening speed in hopes of arriving wherever they are going somewhat on time. (I never do this, by the way - just ask my backseat drivers. On second thought, don't ask!)
I've always thought it was odd, still, because these two buses would pass each other everyday. Our runs on the inside circle of the neighborhood, having quite a small load of around 12, and the other around the outer ring picking up close to 25 kids. I always wondered why they didn't combine the buses, but like I said, the parents insured me it was for safety. At least that's what they had always been told! I wasn't complaining because I loved that my child was on a small, safe bus.
This year, the tides changed, our "numbers" went down and they took away Bus #1 - our bus. Mr. Gary, our beloved bus driver, was nowhere to be found. He was actually reassigned to another more "popular" school, you know, the kind where parents complain and always get what they want! I'm being harsh, but I actually think I'm right on with this one. Our children were assigned to Bus 40, with the scary old bus driver who actually flies around our neighborhood faster than any soccer mom! I'd have to say, I was waiting with great anticipation on the first day, in hopes that Mr. Gary would actually still be our bus driver, but my hopes were dashed quickly as Mr. N came to screeching halt at our newly assigned stop. He almost missed it but for the flock of children and parents who had gathered. I reluctantly put my daughter on the bus, deciding I might as well get used to the new arrangement.
On the second day of school, as the children were being dropped off and needing to cross in front of the bus, Mr. N shut the door and lunged forward with three children, my daughter included, standing right in front of the bus! That's when it all began. I became one of those annoying, complaining parents that wants to get her way!! (Of course, if you ask my mom, she'll tell you that started the first day I sent Kt off to Kindergarten!) We weren't asking for our bus back, we were just looking for a solution to this issue of buses running over our children, not to mention right in front of us!!
Now, you might question our having our children cross in front of the bus. Actually, we'd talked about this early on. Our children cross at a point in the this road that is a bend. People park along the road making it difficult to see very far ahead, but that doesn't stop drivers from speeding. We also have found that the two homes at the top of the court, one on each side, house teenagers who have cars and their friends have cars - drivers with little caution. We just felt it was safer for our children to cross while the bus still had the stop signs and lights on, rather than wait until it was gone and they were on their own. My thought was more on what we need to teach our children to do in the case that we weren't there to cross them ourselves.
Now, this might have worked well, say, if we'd actually had the same bus driver everyday. It wasn't too soon, though, that we realized Mr. N was our morning bus driver and our afternoon one was whoever they could scrounge up at the last minute. And that's how it's been for three months now.
So, not only did they take away one of our buses, we were now relegated to the misfit "third tier" problem bus route. We made initial contact with the "transportation office" at Howard County Public Schools and received a message that our issue was "top priority" and there would be a solution within a week. (Just a word of advice transportation folks, NEVER promise a parent something you cannot deliver!) It was just a week later that I read in the local paper that countywide, there was a bus driver shortage of about 20, that some schools had children waiting for a drivers to return for a second run and bus companies were scrambling to fill in substitutes for their regular drivers. And the guilt sets in!
Not only did I calm down, but I began to realize that we really had it easy. In other parts of our neighborhood, parents have to drive their children to the bus stop. In other neighborhoods, they were having really scary bus driver incidents. In some areas, parents had just resorted to driving their kids to school, something we hadn't had to do yet. So, we were quiet. Festering, though, was the knowledge that someone had promised me something they didn't deliver and I wanted that something next year, when I and several other neighborhood moms would be sending their 5 year olds off to full day kindergarten. But, I remained quiet.
UNTIL yesterday. Kt's bus typically arrives at 4 pm on the dot. By 4:15 I started getting a little fidgety. My neighbor, who waits with me at the bus, was getting rather anxious. Of course, this led to an in-depth discussion of our bus woes. All attempts to reach our "friend" at the transportation office had been in vain, all promises of a resolution were null and void. What should we do?? The answer presented itself to us after the bus dropped off our precious children who had one whopper of a tale to tell. The bus driver, someone I had not ever seen before, which is not unusual for us now, had taken our children on a joy ride, gotten lost and became dependent on our children to guide him in the right direction.
Now, I had to admit I felt really sorry for this poor bus driver. I'm sure he was called at the last minute, like all our afternoon bus drivers, and given our route, which he didn't have with him at the time. I'm not sure what he was thinking when he left the school, but he was quite far away. In fact, he had gone in the completely opposite direction from our neighborhood, ending up at our church THREE exits away from even the school. He was not even in the same town. What was this guy thinking?? Fortunately, enough of the kids knew exactly where they were and were able to lead him "home."
So, I did it, I called my "friend" to finally find out what this solution would be. I was nice, but I expressed my concern that as a parent, we like to know who we are entrusting our children to each day, especially on the road. It would be nice to actually have a bus number so that when our children do not arrive home, we can actually say they are on bus 40. He, in turn, made many more promises that I'm doubting he can deliver on. I would hate his job!! I actually requested Mr. Gary back, I mean, why not!?! Of course, he would never upset any more parents, so that's unlikely.
It's really a small issue in the grand scheme of life. I find it difficult at best to decide how to respond to things that upset me while trying to remember to encourage the things that I appreciate. I love that my daughter goes to a small elementary school, I love that we live in a close knit community, I love that she loves to ride on the bus with more of her friends, even if they get the "smelly" bus in the morning and the "mystery" bus in the afternoon. In the end, this year of bus rides will likely be one that she remembers when she is older. She will never forget the bus driver who got lost and had to be led home by the valiant students. I know I have to be responsible as a parent and put my foot down when someone crosses a boundary, but I can't help but smile to myself at the great writing material this situation presented!! I guess I'm just a blogger at heart but didn't know it until a while ago.
And that's my long tale of two buses!
I've always thought it was odd, still, because these two buses would pass each other everyday. Our runs on the inside circle of the neighborhood, having quite a small load of around 12, and the other around the outer ring picking up close to 25 kids. I always wondered why they didn't combine the buses, but like I said, the parents insured me it was for safety. At least that's what they had always been told! I wasn't complaining because I loved that my child was on a small, safe bus.
This year, the tides changed, our "numbers" went down and they took away Bus #1 - our bus. Mr. Gary, our beloved bus driver, was nowhere to be found. He was actually reassigned to another more "popular" school, you know, the kind where parents complain and always get what they want! I'm being harsh, but I actually think I'm right on with this one. Our children were assigned to Bus 40, with the scary old bus driver who actually flies around our neighborhood faster than any soccer mom! I'd have to say, I was waiting with great anticipation on the first day, in hopes that Mr. Gary would actually still be our bus driver, but my hopes were dashed quickly as Mr. N came to screeching halt at our newly assigned stop. He almost missed it but for the flock of children and parents who had gathered. I reluctantly put my daughter on the bus, deciding I might as well get used to the new arrangement.
On the second day of school, as the children were being dropped off and needing to cross in front of the bus, Mr. N shut the door and lunged forward with three children, my daughter included, standing right in front of the bus! That's when it all began. I became one of those annoying, complaining parents that wants to get her way!! (Of course, if you ask my mom, she'll tell you that started the first day I sent Kt off to Kindergarten!) We weren't asking for our bus back, we were just looking for a solution to this issue of buses running over our children, not to mention right in front of us!!
Now, you might question our having our children cross in front of the bus. Actually, we'd talked about this early on. Our children cross at a point in the this road that is a bend. People park along the road making it difficult to see very far ahead, but that doesn't stop drivers from speeding. We also have found that the two homes at the top of the court, one on each side, house teenagers who have cars and their friends have cars - drivers with little caution. We just felt it was safer for our children to cross while the bus still had the stop signs and lights on, rather than wait until it was gone and they were on their own. My thought was more on what we need to teach our children to do in the case that we weren't there to cross them ourselves.
Now, this might have worked well, say, if we'd actually had the same bus driver everyday. It wasn't too soon, though, that we realized Mr. N was our morning bus driver and our afternoon one was whoever they could scrounge up at the last minute. And that's how it's been for three months now.
So, not only did they take away one of our buses, we were now relegated to the misfit "third tier" problem bus route. We made initial contact with the "transportation office" at Howard County Public Schools and received a message that our issue was "top priority" and there would be a solution within a week. (Just a word of advice transportation folks, NEVER promise a parent something you cannot deliver!) It was just a week later that I read in the local paper that countywide, there was a bus driver shortage of about 20, that some schools had children waiting for a drivers to return for a second run and bus companies were scrambling to fill in substitutes for their regular drivers. And the guilt sets in!
Not only did I calm down, but I began to realize that we really had it easy. In other parts of our neighborhood, parents have to drive their children to the bus stop. In other neighborhoods, they were having really scary bus driver incidents. In some areas, parents had just resorted to driving their kids to school, something we hadn't had to do yet. So, we were quiet. Festering, though, was the knowledge that someone had promised me something they didn't deliver and I wanted that something next year, when I and several other neighborhood moms would be sending their 5 year olds off to full day kindergarten. But, I remained quiet.
UNTIL yesterday. Kt's bus typically arrives at 4 pm on the dot. By 4:15 I started getting a little fidgety. My neighbor, who waits with me at the bus, was getting rather anxious. Of course, this led to an in-depth discussion of our bus woes. All attempts to reach our "friend" at the transportation office had been in vain, all promises of a resolution were null and void. What should we do?? The answer presented itself to us after the bus dropped off our precious children who had one whopper of a tale to tell. The bus driver, someone I had not ever seen before, which is not unusual for us now, had taken our children on a joy ride, gotten lost and became dependent on our children to guide him in the right direction.
Now, I had to admit I felt really sorry for this poor bus driver. I'm sure he was called at the last minute, like all our afternoon bus drivers, and given our route, which he didn't have with him at the time. I'm not sure what he was thinking when he left the school, but he was quite far away. In fact, he had gone in the completely opposite direction from our neighborhood, ending up at our church THREE exits away from even the school. He was not even in the same town. What was this guy thinking?? Fortunately, enough of the kids knew exactly where they were and were able to lead him "home."
So, I did it, I called my "friend" to finally find out what this solution would be. I was nice, but I expressed my concern that as a parent, we like to know who we are entrusting our children to each day, especially on the road. It would be nice to actually have a bus number so that when our children do not arrive home, we can actually say they are on bus 40. He, in turn, made many more promises that I'm doubting he can deliver on. I would hate his job!! I actually requested Mr. Gary back, I mean, why not!?! Of course, he would never upset any more parents, so that's unlikely.
It's really a small issue in the grand scheme of life. I find it difficult at best to decide how to respond to things that upset me while trying to remember to encourage the things that I appreciate. I love that my daughter goes to a small elementary school, I love that we live in a close knit community, I love that she loves to ride on the bus with more of her friends, even if they get the "smelly" bus in the morning and the "mystery" bus in the afternoon. In the end, this year of bus rides will likely be one that she remembers when she is older. She will never forget the bus driver who got lost and had to be led home by the valiant students. I know I have to be responsible as a parent and put my foot down when someone crosses a boundary, but I can't help but smile to myself at the great writing material this situation presented!! I guess I'm just a blogger at heart but didn't know it until a while ago.
And that's my long tale of two buses!
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