English speaking kids not allowed to ride the bus

[Monadnock]

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/930193.html

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A school bus driver let Rachel Armstrong's three children board the bus Monday morning, but he warned them that he wouldn't give them a ride home that afternoon, nor could they ever ride his route again.

The problem: Armstrong's 10-year-old twin girls and 8-year-old son speak English. According to their mother, the driver told them the route had been designated for non-English speakers only.

Something doesn't smell right to me. If the bus can pick up some kids outside of the attendance area, why not all?

 

[SFC JeffJ]

So, let me get this straight. If the kid doesn't speak English, and lives outside of that particulars schools busing area, it's OK. But if you do, the bus going to that school anyways can't take you?

That makes a lot of sense. Hope the people there are in a bit of an uproar about this.

Jeff

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Interesting I would like to hear more regarding this story.

 

[Kacey]

Here's my guess, after reading the article, especially this paragraph:

St. Paul schools spokeswoman Dayna Kennedy acknowledged Thursday that school officials handled the situation poorly, but said the reason Armstrong's children were ineligible to ride the bus was because they lived outside the school's attendance area - not because they spoke English.

The non-English speaking students are being bused to a center school - a school the district is sending them to at the district's choice so they can attend a particular program. Because this is the district's choice, the district must provide transportation.

The Armstrongs, by contrast, are attending a school of choice rather than the school the district would otherwise send them to - that is, the parents chose to send them to a school other than their home school; thus, the parents are responsible for transportation even if district transportation comes through the same area. While the district informed the parents about the busing problem badly (to put it mildly) they are following legal requirements allowing parents to choose which schools their kids attend, but which require parents who make such choices to provide transportation. These kids should never have been on the bus in the first place; that's why the parents are being told they cannot continue to ride it - because their kids are not in whatever program the non-English speaking kids are in, and the bus is for the kids in that program. The district can choose to provide transportation - but they are not required to do so... even if, as I said, they handled the situation badly.

 

[MA-Caver]

You'd think the bus driver would be AMERICAN enough to ignore such stupidity.

 

[Kacey]

You'd think the bus driver would be AMERICAN enough to ignore such stupidity.

While I agree that the situation is absurd, the driver is only doing his job, and could easily be fired for continuing to pick up these children when he's been told not to do so. The wonderful world of liability comes to bear here. I don't agree with it, but I do understand it.

 

[Carol]

All those folks with Masters and Doctoral degrees that run school districts and this is the best they can do?

 

[Xue Sheng]

All those folks with Masters and Doctoral degrees that run school districts and this is the best they can do?

I use to work for a State Education Department and you would be surprised at how mediocre their best actually is.

 

[shesulsa]

I think we need to have standardized testing for school district administrators.

We could call it the *every child left behind act*

 

[Cryozombie]

I think we need to have standardized testing for school district administrators.

We could call it the *every child left behind act*

LOL.

 

[Ping898]

Here's my guess, after reading the article, especially this paragraph:

The non-English speaking students are being bused to a center school - a school the district is sending them to at the district's choice so they can attend a particular program. Because this is the district's choice, the district must provide transportation.

The Armstrongs, by contrast, are attending a school of choice rather than the school the district would otherwise send them to - that is, the parents chose to send them to a school other than their home school; thus, the parents are responsible for transportation even if district transportation comes through the same area. While the district informed the parents about the busing problem badly (to put it mildly) they are following legal requirements allowing parents to choose which schools their kids attend, but which require parents who make such choices to provide transportation. These kids should never have been on the bus in the first place; that's why the parents are being told they cannot continue to ride it - because their kids are not in whatever program the non-English speaking kids are in, and the bus is for the kids in that program. The district can choose to provide transportation - but they are not required to do so... even if, as I said, they handled the situation badly.

I think you are right. The situation wasn't handled well, but the reality of it is the parents are responsible for the transportation in this situation is going to a school of choice as opposed to your local school. My folks had to pay I think $350 to $450 a semester for me to get picked up by a school bus when I went to a high school outside of my town...

And the reality of it is many people will say, it is just one extra stop, it is no big deal, but when that one extra stop for one family, suddenly become 5 extra stops for other families tired of driving their kids in, you can add 10 minutes on the bus route at least, causing the bus driver to have to leave earlier and start picking up kids earlier and depending on how far away from the school the first kid is. That can be a long hour plus bus ride before anyone extra even gets added on and suddenly now that kid has to get up and on the bus even earlier, it is not fair to that kid either....

No if the parents want to drive their kids to a stop that the bus stop is already stopping at and take care of whatever liability things need to be taken care of and most importantly there is room for the kids on the bus then I think they should be allowed to ride the bus.

 

[Monadnock]

I think you are right. The situation wasn't handled well, but the reality of it is the parents are responsible for the transportation in this situation is going to a school of choice as opposed to your local school. My folks had to pay I think $350 to $450 a semester for me to get picked up by a school bus when I went to a high school outside of my town...

And the reality of it is many people will say, it is just one extra stop, it is no big deal, but when that one extra stop for one family, suddenly become 5 extra stops for other families tired of driving their kids in, you can add 10 minutes on the bus route at least, causing the bus driver to have to leave earlier and start picking up kids earlier and depending on how far away from the school the first kid is. That can be a long hour plus bus ride before anyone extra even gets added on and suddenly now that kid has to get up and on the bus even earlier, it is not fair to that kid either....

No if the parents want to drive their kids to a stop that the bus stop is already stopping at and take care of whatever liability things need to be taken care of and most importantly there is room for the kids on the bus then I think they should be allowed to ride the bus.

That makes a lot of sense, but of course we know how much water "common sense" holds at the School Board level.

Thanks,

 

[Kacey]

I think we need to have standardized testing for school district administrators.

We could call it the *every child left behind act*

We already have that... and sadly, I'm not joking. The current law assumes that all students learn at the same pace, to the same depth, at the same time, and can be assessed by the same test... and that's a crock. It is also a discussion for another thread; if I get started, I won't stop for a while.

Bogus BS like this issue (the bus, I mean) has driven a lot of good teachers out of the field, and prevents quite a few from starting in the first place.

 

[Ray]

No if the parents want to drive their kids to a stop that the bus stop is already stopping at and take care of whatever liability things need to be taken care of and most importantly there is room for the kids on the bus then I think they should be allowed to ride the bus.

Parents drive their kids? Man, I walked several miles to school.

But I didn't have it as bad a my parents who walked through snow and uphill both ways to school.

 

[Andrew Green]

So, the school in question probably has facilities to handle non-english speaking kids, so they take non-english speaking kids from other areas. Makes sense. Special resources are needed, put them in one place so it costs less.

The family in question lives outside of that schools area, but want there kids to go there anyway. THey tried to bypass the system that says if they want to go to the school, they have to provide transportation by sticking there kids on a bus meant for non-english speaking kids that covered a wider area.

Now, they are complaining about it?

Tough. Send them to the local school or deal with it yourself. If the school system had to provide transportation to every child to any school they wanted taxes would go up, more complaints. Drive times would go up, again with complaints.

Smells like parking in the handycap spot because "it's there anyways" to me.

 

[Kwiter]

Mebbe the kids should start talking like the Chef on the Muppets when they get on the bus!

Umda Goo Bork Bork!

Now to really confuse you.

Kan du slemme gimle Norge?

hehehehehehe

 

[Marginal]

Mebbe the kids should start talking like the Chef on the Muppets when they get on the bus!

Umda Goo Bork Bork!

Now to really confuse you.

Kan du slemme gimle Norge?

hehehehehehe

B.... But that won't halt the decline of western civilization at all!

 

[Xue Sheng]

B.... But that won't halt the decline of western civilization at all!

Nothing can stop that now

 

[Marginal]

So we've heard.. For at least a thousand years.

 

[Xue Sheng]

So we've heard.. For at least a thousand years.

True, so why stop now :uhyeah:

When you don't hear it anymore....worry