9.09.2009

At the bus stop

Every morning, Olivia and I head out to the bus stop (which is actually the end of our driveway) at around 7:55 to wait for her bus. And every morning, like clockwork, the bus show up on time. "On time" is normally 8:10 or a little earlier. [Yes, we stand out there for 10 or 15 minutes...Olivia likes to stand at the bus stop, and who am I to say 'no'?]

Yesterday we stood out there in a thunderstorm and the pouring rain. The bus was 5 minutes late. I blamed it on the rain (and now have Milli Vanilli running through my head...scary!)

Today, we waited. And waited. And waited some more. And then at 8:20 a.m. I thought "holy crap, school starts in 10 minutes, I better take Olivia to school since the bus isn't here!". So, I grabbed Emma out of bed -- wet diaper and all -- and tossed both kids in the car and sped off to school.

I should also mention here that my hair was not done, I had on no makeup and I was in sweatpants and a T-shirt. A true glamazon. Thank goodness no one saw me.

We made it to school by 8:24 (thankfully we live 2 minutes from the school) and Olivia was delivered safe and sound to the front doors of the school. Disaster averted.

I called the transportation office and was told that yes, they knew there was an issue with that particular bus -- something about 'road issues' and a substitute driver and as of 8:35 he hadn't even made it to our neighborhood yet - she was well aware of the whole situation. At 8:35. Five minutes AFTER school starts! The woman at the transportation office wasn't even apologetic..she actually sounded annoyed.

Now, I had figured out by 8:20 that the bus wasn't coming...and was able to get Olivia to school on time. But don't you think there should be some sort of alert system for parents? Shouldn't it be the responsibility of the transportation office to let parents know if there is an issue with their bus so that alternate transportation can be arranged? How hard would it be to call the affected families? The transportation office clearly knew that our bus wasn't going to make it on time....and yet, these kids were left standing at their bus stops. To me, that is unacceptable.

3 comments:

  1. Don't get me started about communication.... I feel the same way as you. I just had an issue at my daughter school. The teacher sends home a weekly homework schedule on Mondays and it is to be turned on on the following Monday. Well on Friday my daughter did not bring her math book home and she had two pages left to do.

    NOW... I was upset with her and she is telling me that she didn't have to do them. I said well it is on your homework sheet.

    On Monday the teacher told Grace to tell me that she is a great listener and that I should trust her word...... SHE IS 7. I thought she was trying not to be in trouble.


    NO TEACHER.... YOU SHOULD HAVE SENT A NOTE HOME THAT THE HOMEWORK SCHEDULE HAS BEEN CHANGED.

    Ooooh sorry I must be a little more upset than I thought.

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  2. Don't even get me started on the school systems. They run their schedules based on the 1070's where there was ALWAYS a parent home to take care of things--they make very few accomodations for parents and the lack of communication is appalling. The sheer fact that they rely on 6-8 year olds to provide VITAL information to parents annoys the HELL out of me. UGH!! You have just entered a whole new ring of hell with your child starting school--this is why mom's drink!!!

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  3. I should say it's why I drink--didn't mean to group all mom's in one lump. And I meant the 1970's

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