Today when my daughter went in to get her books she also got a card that told her she was no longer a bus rider...I plan on driving to school tomorrow to clock how far it is door to door- anyone else suddenly become a walker?

use mapquest or google pedometer...a friend of mine did that last year and qualified (i think it's 1.5 miles? )

you are correct it is 1.5 miles...I am at 1.47- It will be a long walk in bad weather. They did tell me that I may be able to pay for bussing if there are seats available. They will let me know as soon as they know- price is yet to be determined.

I realize they have to establish rules and you could surely punch holes in what I'm about to say...but I would hope that 87 would grant you a bit of grace (and any other student in a similar situation) on this given how close you are to the cut off -- esp. if there is space on the bus. Hopefully they will look at these things on a case by case basis and not just blindly apply the rule and charge you. If they do, hope it's inexpensive.

My kids were bus riders and didn't always take the bus preferring to walk on nice days or needing to be picked up for certain things....so perhaps it would all shake out?

Mrs speechlady, my in-laws live right down the street from you and my husband walked to school - no bus. It's a bummer on one hand but knowing the kinds of stuff that happens on busses, it might not be a bad thing.....

quote:

Originally posted by mrsspeechlady:
you are correct it is 1.5 miles...I am at 1.47- It will be a long walk in bad weather.

Maybe GE Fan will let your kid use his parking pass on the majority of days when he isn't using it!

Is the policy change due to budget cuts?

School districts cut bus service.

D87 switched the software they use to calculate the distances to school. They had a news item about this a few weeks ago.

I would guess that in good weather it will take around twenty five minutes to walk 1.5 miles.
Figure a clip of 4 miles per hour or fifteen minutes a mile.

Of course if you're involved in some activity like band or sports and you have to carry more to school it will take you longer. Or if you're one of those kids who carry a lot of work home with you that will add on to it as well. Add in bad weather and you could be looking at half an hour.

The schools have escalating costs mostly salary and benefits and revenue streams like property and sales taxes which aren't keeping up with costs.

Doesn't everyone pay for bus service whether you do or not.

My daughter would walk home on nice days when she had few books to carry...it took her about a half hour. I am not nearly as worked up about it as many other parents- I understand there are quite a few students that are now walkers at all Glenbards- and they are planning some demonstration tomorrow...I am sure the change in bus service will save the district a ton of money. I am fortunate that my daughter is able to walk home. If the weather truely is a problem she can walk to the public library and wait for me to pick her up.

The Tribune has an article that takes up most of the front page of today's West Chicagoland section.

How about bus tickets. That's how I got to jr. high and high school. We bought books of tickets and if we rode we were charged.

quote:

"It's no secret school districts are under unprecedented economic pressure," Parker said. "We're seeing an increase in school districts coming to us and asking what can we do to cut our transportation costs. Every dollar they save for transportation, they can put in education or to pay for teachers. "

Or turf?

quote:

Originally posted by Rob Herbold:

Or turf?

<snerk!>

You gotta set your priorities, man!

I'm confused by this statement from the article:

"[In the winter] it starts getting dark at 4 p.m. The girls participate in after-school activities, so you're telling me they'll be walking home in the dark?"

So the district offers a second bus service after school is out for students that participate in after school activities? I've never heard of such a thing.

Just an aside: Isn't this a bit "un-Green"? Making people drive in individual cars/trucks when they could be on a bus?

If it is say, 10 kids per bus route, that's a lot of vehicular traffic, gasoline burned and time spent compared to the far more efficient bus mode.

But, it's "For The Kids" I guess. So it's All Good.

The super-brightness of the green turf will more than make up for it.

LOL! You really think outside that box, don't you Clam?

From the Tribune article:

quote:

As school districts look to tighten their belts, bus routes are coming under greater scrutiny. Chris McClain, assistant superintendent for business services, said the district is simply doing what many other districts have done.

"There were many families who were receiving a service, and they weren't entitled to it," McClain said.

A bit harsh, no? They weren't "entitled" to it? This reminds me of Sam Zell wanting to get some money out of Wrigley Company for retroactive naming rights fees. To Sam's eye, Wrigley wasn't "entitled" to have the Cubs ball yard named - Wrigley Field - for free all those decades.

And lest we forget....

quote:

Every dollar they save for transportation, they can put in education or to pay for teachers.

So, kids either walk or clog up the roads so there can be more "pay for teachers". Or fake grass. Or anything else "For The Kids".

My co-worker and I were talking about this toady and I guess, as stated above, other schools are doing this too. I believe she stated here sister-in-law also got the 'walking papers' so to speak, which the mileage was pretty close but still a decision was made to make the household walkers. She mapped out several routes, as well as the school did (I think) and she asked for a reconsideration. The several routes that were mapped had 'sex offenders' on every route! Being a non-parent, I didn't even think of that! Is this something they really should be concerned with? Just wondering, I'm unsure if these are huge issues or not.