Dropping the kids off at school

[Htown Harry]

Several have commented on busy streets near the school.

One phenomenon we have here in the land of minimal land use planning is that the developers of large subdivisions seem to intentionally avoid planning for a school in the interior of the "master planned" property. Instead, they leave plenty of vacant tracts around the busy perimeter for commercial or multi-family development.

When the school district comes around looking for new school sites, the developer is usually quite happy to give him a "good deal" on a piece of the commercial frontage. The developer comes out ahead in two ways. He gets twice the dollars by selling premium land to the school district (vs. an interior tract, though he might gets a bit less than he might have for commercial development.) More important, he gets to use the presence of the new school at the front door of the subdivision as a marketing advantage over the next neighborhood down the road.

Later, when the attendance boundaries are drawn, the typical result is that the parents of a bunch of kids who live close to the school don't judge it to be accessible via a safe walking route. So they drive Junior three blocks, cross the busy street in the car and join the carpool line.

Some school districts are truly myopic when it comes to providing options for walkers. At the extreme, one local district pulled all of their crossing guards a few years ago. Their rationale was that since they offer free bus service available to every child (no matter the distance from the school), they couldn't afford the "double" expense of providing for walkers, too.

 

[growing_older]

Several times a year, my neighborhood school goes into lockdown because of a creepy or drug addled stranger threatening people in the area. The school my kids attend has a bus stop next to a park known for anonymous sexual activity - and the kind of people attracted to such a park. To walk from my house to school, kids would have to travel through some nice neighborhoods and some known for racial tension and gang violence - typically in the papers every month for a teenager shot there.

Yes, I walked to school (and rode my bike and sometimes took a bus) and sometimes it was pretty far. I'm sorry we don't live in a place where that is possible for my kids. I think almost every child I know is either accompanied to school, to the bus stop or dropped off by car. It seems absurdly risky not to have an adult with them to try to evaluate situations and make safe decisions.

 

[Sue J]

I'm a school crossing guard, so here's my perspective.

I think the idea of walking to and from school is great. It's exercise, time to be with friends, wind down from the school day and experience some independence. But the reality of it is that for many it's just too risky.

My current corner is 2 blocks from the elementary school and it's a crossing point for kids in the neighborhood beyond the neighborhood where the school is. The speed limit is 25 mph but the street is a boulevard that runs about 2 miles from one major street across to the other side of town to another major street. There are no stops or lights the full length. So cars go by at about 35 mph or more. We have a stop sign at the cross street but it seems to be an "optional" stop sign, especially for the high school kids on their way home.

Kids pass a "Beer Garden" and a "Bar and Grill", a laundromat and a couple of closed businesses on their way to school. There's also a 24 hour convenience store that gets a lot of foot traffic for local folks to get their beer any time of day. On the next side street there's a registered sex offender.

During the winter very few of the sidewalks are shoveled or even salted. I've seen kids in inappropriate clothing for the winter, no boots or hats, trying to walk on the sidewalk and giving up and walking in the street. The ones who stay on the sidewalk have snow up to their knees. They must be really wet when they get to school.

In my town you're bussed only if you live more than 1.5 miles for elementary grades. There used to be no busing for middle school but we recently closed one of the 3 middle schools so they do bus some students now. There is no busing for the high school.

When the weather is decent we do get a lot of parents who walk with their kids, which is nice. As soon as the weather changes most of them go back to driving the kids.

I used to work at a corner right at the elementary school. An earlier poster was right, many schools were built in a time when not that many parents drove their kids and there is not enough parking for all the parents who drop off and pick up. There were parents who would drive to the school at pickup 45 minutes early just to be sure they could get a parking space! Others would circle the school 2 or 3 times until they saw their kid and then have them run out and jump in the car.

From my point of view the most dangerous part of the whole school traffic situation is parents on a cell phone. That's how most "near misses" happen, parents trying to drive, listen to a kid and talk on the phone at the same time. If a driver was on a cell phone I just held pedestrians back until they passed.

The other scary thing for parents is the idea of a kid getting snatched. I think there are predators out there, but statistically the number is very small. It only takes one, in your neighborhood to scare everyone. I don't think every incident is a predator out to grab a kid, I think more of them are someone who sees an opportunity and acts. All it takes is a kid alone, looking distracted and innocent and the wrong kind of person taking advantage of them.

In my town we work for the Police Department, not the school system. And we are supposed to report incidents. Last year I called in to report a man who paid for a 6 year old's candy bar at the convenience store and then followed the kid all the way to my corner, calling after him and trying to catch up to him. That just seemed odd and even though it turned out to be nothing, if it was my child, I'd want to know about it.

Retirement related - Up until right before I got hired the Crossing Guards were all city employees and paid into the state Public Employees pension system. By the time I started they changed it and all the newer guards are hired through a temp employment company just so they can pay us through a non-city payroll so that we aren't in the pension system, we pay into SS. That worked out good for me because I needed to complete my SS credits. There is a Crossing Guard who has been doing this for 33 years and when she retires she'll get a small pension.

 

[Westernskies]

Driving kids two blocks to school in a gas-guzzling minivan? I can't wait for the smack-down between the soccer moms and the eco-terrorists!

 

[jambo101]

Different time for sure .In my entire schooling i never got a lift or a bus to school ,it was always walking,fortunately my parents would buy houses fairly close to the school but todays kids can live miles away from school so transportation is needed and in my case its less worrying during the day if i drive the kids to school.

 

[donheff]

We were the crossing guards in 8th grade - you got the privilege of riding your bike to school if you served. I only got to do it a few times as a sub because I was a goof off and the gym teacher in charge bared me. Don't any school systems continue to use older kids or did that practice get litigated away?

 

[freebird5825]

There is no way that I would allow my children or my grandchildren to walk to school alone.
Ha

I have neither, but I totally agree with Ha. Young people walking would have to face school age bullies or gangs, road traffic, cars with half asleep drivers rapidly exiting driveways, bad weather, dogs running loose, human predators, gunfire in some cases...
As far as the bus stopping at every house goes, we used to congregate in a neighbor's driveway. She was the designated adult supervisor and was glad to do so for our collective safety and to ensure all the kids actually got on the bus. There were several of these bus stops in our development, spaced about every 15 houses.
Today's version seems to be stopping at every single house, which causes tremendous wear and tear on the buses. No sidewalks and deep snow are a big factor here, so it makes sense.

 

[Texas Proud]

I have never read anything that indicates stranger abduction is any more common today than in the fifties. The 24x7 national news cycle inflates the perception of danger. It is like this swine flu nonsense. 13,000 people have died in the US due to seasonal flu so far this year. Yet schools are closed all over because of swine flu with a handful of deaths in Mexico and one toddler in the US - it is unrealistic fear.

OH, probably not reported much, but that toddler WAS from Mexico... he or she was sent to Houston because they were visiting relatives in the US when they were sick...

 

[FinanceDude]

We were the crossing guards in 8th grade - you got the privilege of riding your bike to school if you served. I only got to do it a few times as a sub because I was a goof off and the gym teacher in charge bared me. Don't any school systems continue to use older kids or did that practice get litigated away?

In our school system, they banned that about 15 years ago. I guess they feared litigation if something happened. Heck, I was a school crossing guard in middle school........

 

[tuixiu]

In elementary school we had students who were crossing guards but they were actually just a specialized wing of the brutally oppressive collaborators known as safety patrols.

Classmates by day, but before and after they would don the bright orange belt that signified membership in the terror regime... blowing whistles and gleefully shouting out threats of "I'm gonna report you" for such minor infractions as running, placing each other in full-nelsons, or throwing fruit towards peers.

I think they were mostly 6th graders but a few 5th graders were allowed in, likely because they showed exceptional affinity to the safety patrol dogma and were tagged as fast risers and potential future leaders in the cadre.

 

[FinanceDude]

In elementary school we had students who were crossing guards but they were actually just a specialized wing of the brutally oppressive collaborators known as safety patrols.

Classmates by day, but before and after they would don the bright orange belt that signified membership in the terror regime... blowing whistles and gleefully shouting out threats of "I'm gonna report you" for such minor infractions as running, placing each other in full-nelsons, or throwing fruit towards peers.

I think they were mostly 6th graders but a few 5th graders were allowed in, likely because they showed exceptional affinity to the safety patrol dogma and were tagged as fast risers and potential future leaders in the cadre.

Sounds like I was part of the "schoolyard mafia"......

"Quit running, or you next recess will be your LAST"!!

 

[Westernskies]

In our school system, they banned that about 15 years ago. I guess they feared litigation if something happened. Heck, I was a school crossing guard in middle school........

I was a crossing guard in the fifth and sixth grade... a coveted posting; we were allowed to be 15 minutes late for class, because we had to walk half a mile to school from our posts after the last kids passed, stow our crossing poles/ flags/sashes before reporting to class. You had to have good grades to qualify, since you were missing the first few minutes of school each day. It was a great experience, but in retrospect I guess I should have contacted a lawyer from the back of the phone book who specialized in child-labor issues, organized a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all the underage crossing guards against the school, the city, our parents and the manufacturer of the crossing poles for exploiting us without pay; putting us in harms way by exposing us to sexual predators, bullies, drunk drivers, and distracted soccer moms in Rambler station wagons; making us walk to school in inclement weather; and depriving us of 15 minutes of education daily...

Of course, my most vivid memory was the nice lady who brought me out a cup of hot chocolate one windy, cold January morning in a silk bathrobe that wouldn't quite close...

 

[lucija]

Oh, and I forgot, that yes, there is a LINE of parents waiting to drop their kids off ON CAMPUS at the HIGH SCHOOL! I can't believe it! I don't have the patience or inclination...

It's all relative... My kid is riding a bus now, but once in high school (unless something changes) I will be doing the drop-off (or some type of car-pool).

Our local high school is very close, less than 2 min by car, but it's on a stretch of the road I am afraid to walk on (very narrow, people zoom by, nowhere to hide or jump out of way) - so, walking is out of question. Taking the bus back home should not be a problem, but on the way to school they get picked up at 6:15 AM and are on the bus for more than one hour (picking up other kids).

... I forgot to mention, the high school is on the way to any/all major roads, so it's also on the way to work or anywhere else I may need to go (no special trip needed).

 

[FinanceDude]

Of course, my most vivid memory was the nice lady who brought me out a cup of hot chocolate one windy, cold January morning in a silk bathrobe that wouldn't quite close...

Nice.......

 

[FUEGO]

We still have elementary aged kids directing traffic at our neighborhood elementary school. It is unfortunate though - half the time those kids are waving the flags around like they are flag twirler girls during half time of a football game. I basically ignore them, slow down, avoid hitting them if they are in the middle of the road, and avoid pedestrians.

 

[Westernskies]

We still have elementary aged kids directing traffic at our neighborhood elementary school. It is unfortunate though - half the time those kids are waving the flags around like they are flag twirler girls during half time of a football game. I basically ignore them, slow down, avoid hitting them if they are in the middle of the road, and avoid pedestrians.

so, the plan is working...

 

[FUEGO]

so, the plan is working...

With respect to me, yes it is working. But the other couple hundred cars that pass by them per hour may be on the cell phone, and/or smoking, and/or drinking, and or eating, and/or changing the radio channel, etc.

I drive defensively. I carry the state minimum liability insurance and I certainly don't want to take my own money and pay for someone else's trip to Jamaica if I tap them ever so lightly with my car. Besides, I still have the factory paint job on my car, and I imagine hitting a 6 year old at speeds in excess of 25 mph might really screw up that beautiful paint job. And at least one of us would have a really bad day.

 

[bright eyed]

It's all relative... My kid is riding a bus now, but once in high school (unless something changes) I will be doing the drop-off (or some type of car-pool).

Our local high school is very close, less than 2 min by car, but it's on a stretch of the road I am afraid to walk on (very narrow, people zoom by, nowhere to hide or jump out of way) - so, walking is out of question. Taking the bus back home should not be a problem, but on the way to school they get picked up at 6:15 AM and are on the bus for more than one hour (picking up other kids).

... I forgot to mention, the high school is on the way to any/all major roads, so it's also on the way to work or anywhere else I may need to go (no special trip needed).

I get the driving, our HS is far away too and many hills in between, but the need to wait for a LONG time to get ON campus to pick up/drop off in front seems excessive. You could easily drop them off a block or two from school and avoid the traffic and the lines...and yes, there are parents who get there a half hour early or more to get the good spots...

 

[Westernskies]

Wow, have times changed, I wouldn't have been caught dead being dropped off by my parents in front of the high school- I worked so I could afford a car my junior and senior year, prior to that I would have dived out of the family car a block away...

 

[Westernskies]

Nice.......

but USELESS without pics.........

 

[FinanceDude]

but USELESS without pics.........

Best sig line I have ever had, on any forum anywhere........

 

[FinanceDude]

Wow, have times changed, I wouldn't have been caught dead being dropped off by my parents in front of the high school- I worked so I could afford a car my junior and senior year, prior to that I would have dived out of the family car a block away...

It was pretty cool my high school years. The old HS was converted to an elementary school, when they built the new high school right next door. The schools were connected by a passageway. My stepmom was a teacher, so she used to drive me to school until I got my own car. I was "dropped off" at the elementary school and walked inside to the HS, so noone could give me crap. It got better my senior year, because class for her started later, I was constantly 10 minutes late to my first hour. Luckily, my HS track coach was my first hour teacher. When folks complained, he would say:

"Scott could graduate in December but he's staying around to help the track team this year, as well as being involved in concert band, jazz band, and pep band, and is on the Yearbook staff. As soon as you start helping this school other than being an whiner, maybe we'll offer you the same deal"........ Thanks, Mr. Ohan.......