Please read the email correspondence below, and tell me what you HONESTLY think. I am pretty hacked and have not sent a response yet. I wanted to calm down and gather my thoughts.
From: Rogers, Susan [SRogers@qualityind.com]
Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 1:36 PM
To: Mike Snell
Subject: Bus change
My daughter Kering Grace Rogers is a sixth grader at Christiana Middle
School. Her older sister usually watches her in the afternoon until I get
home from work. She has gotten a job in the afternoons and will not be at
home. I would like for Keri to be able to ride the bus to my sister's house
in the afternoon, so that she may receive proper supervision after school.
My sister lives at blah blah blah. She has two
children attending Christiana Elementary School. Please let me know what bus
number and if this would be allowed until the end of the school year. My
cell phone number is 555-5555 or see my additional contact information
below.
Thank You,
Susan Rogers
HERE IS THE RESPONSE I RECEIVED:
I'm sorry Ms. Rogers but I will not be able to grant your request. Bus routes and capacities are set up using the
students home address. If students are allowed to ride another bus other than the one they are assigned, it
would cause some buses to be overloaded and some buses to be half empty therefore the county would
have to use more buses than are needed. And to be fair we cannot allow one student to ride a different bus
without allowing all students that same opportunity as we transport 23,000 students each day.
So what's the verdict kind readers?
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7 comments:
I would go above Mike Snell's head. Perhaps first try him again, stressing the safety of a young girl home alone. If he still refuses, go over his head. Surely there are instances where a parent sends in a note for a child to ride home with a friend after school occasionally. This is just that instance every day. Surely there are kids who ride an after school bus to a day care or to a babysitter's house rather than their home address.
If Snell is a transportation director, talk to the school principal. Then take it to the district. I would continue to stress her safety and your serious trepidation at their lack of concern for one of their student's safety. Perhaps one of your local stations has a slow news day and could use some filler? It would be a shame if it made the school district look less than stellar. ;)
I would bring up Fiona's point about kids riding buses to babysitters or after-school care.
Could your sister possibly pick up all kids after school? I mean, if she's home anyway?
I wonder how three less kids riding the bus would affect the "situation" Mr. Snell.
Also, if that is your real cell # take it off!
This is the Internet, after all!
Oops didn't mean to put my cell on there. I changed it to a fake number!
I think our school district has a similar policy as far as changing routes goes if you do it day-to-day, but I believe that children are allowed to ride a bus to their aftercare situation as long as that situation is on their route. Is it the same bus, or different from the one she usually rides?
Fiona - kids aren't allowed to take another bus to a friend's house after school anymore. We always used to do it, too, but heaven forbid anything so simple should be allowed anymore. If a friend is coming over, you have to pick them both up or it's no dice.
Frist of all, keep all communication in e-mail form. This gives you permanent record. If you make or receive a phone call regarding this issue, send a follow up e-mail summing up what was said so that you have a record that cannot be disputed.
Your next step is to contact whoever this man's boss is. I would send an e-mail to both the principal and superintendent and CC this man.
If this doesn't work, call your school board and tell them you want to meet with them. If their regular meeting is not scheduled to be soon enough, request an emergency meeting. If they balk at that, tell them your next phone call will be to the local paper.
We fought with our school board last fall over an issue and it took weeks. Remember - save every e-mail. Print them and take them to every meeting you have with school officials. Your last resort (and we never got that far) is to drop the "L" word. Simply say "My lawyer has advisded me..." That usually gets school boards moving. They cannot afford to be caught up in a legal battle, nor do they want the bad publicity.
Now hop on over to my blog and give me some advice on my latest predicament.
Can't wait to see how things turn out for you.
The verdict is I'm glad I finished school 30+ years ago so I don't have to put up with the PC A holes teachers of today. I might end up running some of them over with a Taurus.
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