Take your seats and get out your notebooks
We couldn't just sit by and let our co-workers have all the fun.
So Jennifer Fernandez and I, with the help of those wonderful folks in our IT department, have started "The Chalkboard," the News & Record's latest blog devoted to K-12 education issues.
What will we talk about here on the blog? Well, a lot of that depends on what you, the readers, want. For starters, we plan to do for education what our counterparts at "The Inside Scoop" do for local government. We'll let you know about the upcoming school board meetings and talk about what's going on in the central office.
But we also want to tell you about the interesting things going on in our schools - and there are plenty of them. We get lots of requests for feature stories and while we try to write as many of them as possible, there are plenty that we just don't have time to do.
This is where "The Chalkboard" can help. We don't want it to become a community calendar, but if a school has something unique going on, we probably will be able to feature it on the blog.
So if you have anything for us, you can e-mail us at bbuchanan@news-record.com or jfernandez@news-record.com
Class is now in session.
Comments (2)
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I have emailed you before. The issue about buses for children at regular schools, has not been addressed yet.
My daughter will be required to walk to school next year, because of the "walk Zone". We live half a mile from the school. The bus was scheduled to pick up children a quarter of a mile from the school. Does this seem right? It is not.
If my child can not ride the bus then no one currently going to Foust Elem. should be on a bus. Check it out, everyone at Foust lives closer to the school than the "walk zone" distance of one and a half miles.
This is part of the response I got from a board member:
"the "walk zone " is determined by the State and the standard is that any student living within a mile and a half from the school is not officially to be provided state funded bus service; however , we try to accomodate as many students as possible and particularly so when safety is a factor as you described."
This was the entire email sent back from Jim Moen:
"Yes. For the remainder of this year, and as long as the bus does not become fully loaded, your child may board. A new bus route has been sent to Foust elementary to do this.
Jim Moen "
This means, next year, we are up a creek. I got a follow up email from the same board member containing the email sent to her by Jim Moen.
This is it:
Ms. Cassada: I e mailed our transportation supervisor, Jim Moen about this situation the other day. This is what he sent back to me. I would be glad to sit and talk with the parents in your community about this situation. I am not pleased at all about these transportation issues. Thank you
Email from Jim Moen to this board member:
This has been a long standing issue because the students in question reside in the non-transport zone, and for which we receive no state funding. The non-transport zone is defined by state statute as an area 1.49 circular miles around the school.
Each year we have added stops after we have determined that there is space available on the buses serving Foust but only on the street the bus travels to get to Foust. As you might guess, this becomes an annual problem because we don’t route them to begin with. We understand the parents concern but if we add for one group, we must add for all and that is not possible. Last year, we added bus stops a couple of weeks into the school year and advised the principal, and she advised the parents, that we would not do so again this year.
However, starting on Monday, Aug 16th, we will add a 2nd run to one of the 5 buses serving Foust to get to the Langley/Bulla area. The bus will make its regular run, drop off students at Foust, and then make a circle of Floyd, Langley, Bulla, Memphis and Dana and pick up students who are out at the street. We will then establish bus stops in appropriate locations. We will then, in conjunction with Ms. Cox, send a letter to these parents informing them that we do not intend to do this again next year.
Jim Moen
Okay, well so far no letter has been sent, and the bus does not make a second trip, at least not to pick up my child. The bus was supposed to stop on Freeman Mill where Langley and Dana meet it. So, all I asked was that my child could get on where the bus was originally supposed to stop anyway, but did not. If no one inside the 1.49 miles he mentions is in the transport zone, then why do they bother to pick up anyone that goes to Foust. Make the rule and stick by it, or pick up everyone not within sight of the school. They need to make up their minds. And make it before next year, or they will hear from me and the other parents again. I am not done with this issue, until I am sure my child and the others are safely transported to school next year and every year.
Oh, by-the-way, my street,Langley, joins Floyd (the street the school is on) So, buses can and do go down my street in order to get to Foust. Which means my house is on the way to school.
G.Cassada
Posted on October 20, 2004 7:47 AM
This too, goes back to the HP Choice Plan. The school board is spending so much money on that unwanted plan, that they can no longer afford the common sense approaches for the rest of the county. I live across the street from Central High School in High Point and my daughter had to win a lottery to be able to attend that school. Jim Moen and the rest of Grier's staff would not even consider a "walk zone" for the kids in High Point. I can throw a rock and hit the school but if my child had not won the lottery, our tax dollars would have "bussed" my child to Southwest or Andrews. There are similar situations for people that live so close to the other high schools. What happened to our "walk zones" Mr. Moen? Please vote to change the school board so that these ridiculous plans can be dropped and common sense decisions can prevail!
Posted on October 20, 2004 11:40 AM