I was surprised when hearing this NPR story by the fact that the school bus in this Virginia city either stops or doesn’t stop based on something posted on this family’s door. Schoolbuses where I live just pick up whatever kids happen to be waiting at periodic stops on a route like a city bus, and the bus my kids take doesn’t even go by our door. That was the same way with the school bus where I lived when I was growing up as well.
We have two systems here. One has “stops” along a route (doesn’t go door-to-door). That system applies if the student is attending their home school, meaning they live within the neighborhood/area for that school.
The other system is door-to-door. Students are picked up at their houses and taken to their school. This applies if they are going to a school that is not their home school. My son falls into this camp. His is autistic and is being bussed by the district to the school in the system that has the autistic classroom. Other reasons might be a district approved transfer to a non-home school for a variety of reasons, such as classes offered.
Around here, in our district of about 3800, bus routes are carefully planned each year based on who is going to what school at what time and also budget. Obviously the variables change a lot each year. There are accomodations for special needs kids as noted above. I recall my bus stop got further and further away from my house as everyone in the neighborhood got older (we were all within 5 years of each other).
If you happen to be the only kid going to School A on your block then the bus stop is going to be at your house. If there’s three of you, it might still be at your house and everyone has to meet there. Or you might have to walk down to the stop.
But as far as I know, in our little district, there has never been a dedicated, every year, without exception, bus stop that kids have to go to. It’s quite variable.
(Oh, I still live in the district where I grew up, btw)
Oh, that could be it.
We’re in rural Iowa and the bus stops outside of our driveway to pick up my youngest son. Back when his older brothers were still in high school the bus would stop for 10 seconds and then continue on the route. The driver would stop just in case someone needed a ride vs one of the older boys driving them in.
I did have signs made up for the days that either everyone was sick or we were going to the dentist. It’s an hour away from us and at one point I had boys at 3 different schools in 3 different towns… it’s consolidated down to 2 towns now and it’s just the youngest but we still take the day to do shopping, haircuts and going out for lunch or dinner.
Around here, there is a rule that kids must have a sidewalk to walk to a bus stop. If there is no sidewalk in front of a kid’s house (or directly across that street, and the speed limit of the street is 25mph or below, which it is in some suburbs), the bus must stop directly in front of the house. Otherwise, the bus has to stop approximately every 1/2 mile, because 1/2 mile is the longest a kid can be required to walk. Kids can be required to ride for up to an hour, though. I know a few parents who can afford to feed their kids breakfast, but take advantage of the school breakfast anyway, just to give their kid more time to sleep in the morning, and also to move their breakfast closer to lunch-- they eat when they get to school, and 8am, instead of when they would have to to catch the but, more like 6:30. With lunch at noon, breakfast at 8 works out better.
Beyond specials needs students, my district picks up kindergartners house-by-house. I assume because we have half-day kindergarten and so the wee ones would be standing out at the bus stop all alone. At least the first graders+ have other neighborhood kids walking and waiting with them.
I would say that if they can walk up to a half mile, the stops could be a mile apart. Butt there are also the cases where someone is coming from perpendicular to the bus route and the bus doesn’t actually go down their street.
My neighborhood is within a mile of the elementary school, at 0.8 miles, so they have a “walking school bus”. As the kids walk down the street, accompanied by a volunteer adult, there are certain times when you need to be ready to go. From what I’ve seen, they don’t wait very long before continuing to going. Supposedly the kids love it, although I think it’d be a pain in rainy/snowy weather.
When I was a kid, I had to walk to the nearest major intersection, and wait there (at least, when I wasn’t close enough to walk all the way, as I was in 4th and 5th grade). Nowadays, though, the trend around here seems to be towards more neighborhood schools, so most kids don’t need to take the bus at all, and those that do usually go straight to their houses.
We had door to door pickups, even in cases where a few kids were right next door to each other and it would have taken less than a minute for them to gather at one house. It was a rural area, though.
Interesting. That is the opposite of the trend in my city: we had a bunch of neighborhood schools for many years, and then a little over a decade ago, they were all consolidated into one primary school for the whole city (over the protests of many parents, especially those from more affluent neighborhoods–and there has been a boom in private school attendance since then). I wonder which of our districts is going against the national trend, or if there is one at all.
I live in a small town, almost downtown. The nearest bus stop for my kindergartner is about 2 blocks away, although the bus passes right by my house (grumble). There must be a parent present for pick-ups and drop-offs. On Tuesday they have “early release” (for teacher meetings, I assume) and I forgot today, so the bus driver stopped at my house and honked. :rolleyes:
The morning bus for her is at 6:45 AM (give or take 10 minutes either way) although the bell for school starting is at 7:45. The school is less than two miles from our house, but they use the buses for multiple schools, I believe. We are able to make the bus about half the time; otherwise, we drop her off at the school entrance. The only nice thing about this arrangement is that she can have breakfast at the school if she takes that early bus.
It just annoys me, because I think kids need to sleep a little longer (and I certainly do!) When I was in elementary school, I think we began around 9 AM. I remember having a leisurely bath, breakfast, getting dressed and having my hair done, and then having time to watch a cartoon or two before catching the bus in front of my house…
I hate how early school starts.
Around here, there are locations kids have to go to and wait for the bus.
Door to door is only for the special kids that take the “short bus”.
Door-by-door pickup service is normal in rural Virginia because most of the stops are some distance apart. Not sure what all the various urban/city school systems do.
The Cub has had door-to-door bus pickup since he started pre-K. We’re in a city.
A friend of mine moved his family from his small town to the big city. He bought a home close to the school so his off-springs could walk there.
He later learned that it was much safer for kids to take the bus to school. And not be walking the streets.
I got stuck behind a school bus once and I was shocked that bus stopped at a house let one kid off then stopped at the next house and let another kid off ! The kids can’t walk one house over ??
That does seem weird. How old were they?