Hey, there! Log in / Register
YOUR'E KIDDING??? MORE BPS SCHOOL CLOSINGS....
By dushiteacher on Wed, 10/01/2008 - 8:03pm
It has come to me from a reliable source that 4 yes 4 more Boston Public Schools will be closing. The announcement was supposed to be on the News at 6pm tonite. This is unbelievable. Rather that keeping these schools OPEN it has been decided to close them. If money is the issue ...Why don't we save some and eliminate the bus situation? Kids as young as 4 years old on a bus travelling across the city without any supervision. Busdrivers without documentation....YES...But rather that eliminate the bus situation GAS included...The adminstration is eliminating professional and highly qualified educated TEACHERS. What is up with that?
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
4yolds on a bus
I probably shouldn't jump into this whole thing, but what is wrong with 4 year olds on a bus? They're supervised by the driver. That's how it works. I rode a bus to school from 1st through 11th grade, until I got my license and a car. (Not intended as support for the busing program)
Here's the problem with 4-year-olds on buses
In Boston, at least, drivers do NOT have to make sure there's actually an adult waiting for the kid at a bus stop.
So when our kidlet was in kindergarten on the coldest day of the year and the driver actually got to the stop - which is nowhere near our house and is across a busy street - way earlier than usual, he just left her off there. Fortunately, her teacher just happened to be driving home that way, saw her standing there all alone and stopped and let her warm up in the car until my wife arrived.
Yeah, I grew up in a
Yeah, I grew up in a different place, and I don't have kids... but I like to think a kid knows how to get home on their own. Probably detached from reality. Glad your daughter got home safe.
I don't see what the problem
I don't see what the problem is.
What age in 1st grade?
"I rode a bus to school from 1st through 11th grade..."
I rode a bus from 1st through 6th, then was close enough to walk. But I was not 4 in first grade, either. Generally, kids in 1st grade are 5 or 6. It's a big difference, each year, when they are that little.
Children are going to school
Children are going to school as young as four years old (K0& K1) on a bus. Kinder age is 5 by September 1st BUT First grade is age 6. These kids have no idea....They should be walked to a neighborhood school by their mothers NOT put on a big yellow bus and dropped off on a street corner. Yes, there are some children just dropped on street corners in Boston with NO PARENT waiting. IS SAFETY AN ISSUE HERE???
Please don't generalize
When we put our daughter on the bus for the very first time on her first day of kindergarten, she waved as she went up the stairs, then didn't look back. It was a lot harder on her mother and I; she did just fine. For that matter, I like to think I did as well, even if I did ride a bus to school in first grade (granted, not in Boston).
At the same time, yes, safety is an issue. It always is. But not every bus is a traveling hellhole of slavering beasts. And if it is, where are the parents? They should be on the phone to the school, demanding the troublemakers be taken off. It does work.
Fathers Need Not Apply
Oh, I see, then my kids are permanently damaged because they were sent off to evile skuuls on a nasty bus by their father while their mother worked outside the home?
We couldn't walk ours to school until my eldest was in 2nd grade and the youngest in kindergarten because they were rebuilding the nearest school for two years. I'm sure they are scarred for life by horrible gender role reversal and motorized yellow transport, just not showing it.
Children should be walked to
Children should be walked to school by their CARETAKERS ....mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles, cousins and so on... their CARETAKERS....
You are one of the fortunate ones to HAVE a job. Many of the students going to Boston Public Schools have parents that don't work (they don't report it anyway...), they file paperwork with no income, no employment...So don't you think they should be be walking their children to and from the bus stop OR school? I was originally trying to stress the point that schools are closing BUT children of a tender young age pf 4 yrs. are on the bus travelling across the city with much older students seeing AND hearing things that they should not be seeing AND hearing at this young age. ASK YOUR OWN CHILDREN what type of language & behavior they heard on the bus???
Do you even have kids?
You seem so concerned ... yet so unaware of the actual realities of parenting and actual conditions of schools and school transportation.
I think you might be well served to dial down the imagination, theory, heresay, and hyperbole and actually find out how all of this works.
The only problems with language and behavior of kids on the bus that we encountered in the elementary years were dealt with by a call to the principal. The vast majority of what the older kids were saying/doing that was unacceptable was clearly LEARNED AT HOME, not on the bus, and the kids themselves said as much.
Why do you feel such a need to tell parents what you believe is going on - as if we must all be entirely clueless and need to be enlightened? Given your knowledge and understanding of the situation, don't you think that is rather presumptuous?
I originally wrote regardig
I originally wrote regardig the closing of schools saying that instead of closing schools WHY don't we look at the bus situation. By the way I do have children 3 of them. One primary, elementary and just entering high school. I see what is going on everyday...as I said I commute to work and see the high school bus parade by that I mean at least five or six buses heading into West Roxbury High School with NO students on them BUT students will be walking down Spring Street at 8 or later in the morning heading to school. I call the school trying to see if they can help avoid fatalities. The answer I get from the adminstrators there is "I'm sorry'. Do you know that these young boys and girls are walking in front of the tractor trailers and cars at such a slow pace a turtle could walk faster. They should have been in school for over an hour by the time. I see them EVERYDAY!!!! The younger children I see them every day hanging out the windows, throwing things, swearing and spitting at cars. I have called transportation for the safety of the children but all I get is "I'll report it". I know that all parents are not entirely clueless and many are trying to change the bad situations. If everyone voices what they hear and see MAYBE THERE CAN BE A CHANGE MADE.
I don'tknow what town you
I don'tknow what town you grewup in BUT have you ever been behind a bus. Stop down at Forest Hill Station & South Street in Jamaica Plain one morning. The students that sit in the back of the bus SWING yes SWING the back door OPEN. This is the EMERGENCY EXIT. What is the bus driver supposed to do while he is driving? Some of this transportation is hell on wheels. My point was that schools should not be closing BUT the bus situation along with our economical situation (taxes, cost of gas, provided additional help on the bus) should be looked at more carefully before closing schools & cutting activities provided by these neighborhood schools. THE DRIVER CANNOT HANDLE SOME OF THESE STUDENTS. THE STUDENTS DO NOT FOLLOW THE SAFETY RULES. They are supposed to stay seated, keep hand & heads inside the bus. Drive behind a bus on Washington Street, Jamaica Plain and you will know EXACTLY what I am talking about.
learn to spell
You might have more credibility if you learned to spell "tonight" correctly and had proper grammar. You have numerous incomplete sentences and improper punctuation.
"Tonite" is an explosive, not a relative time of day....
SPELLING ISN'T THE ISSUE
Who cares if tonite was spelled tonite or tonight??? I was trying to get across the point that schools are closing all over the city...Have you seen the news or the papers? This is a serious issue. Children will be travelling on a bus across the city to go to a K-8 school that means 4 & 5 year olds (Kind.)with early teens 13&14 year olds (7&8th graders) that are passing on behaviors not acceptable for teens and adults never mind the young ones. About the incomplete sentences....HELLO!!!! this is a blog not my thesis which is written with APA format. 2 Masters!!!
Forget the grammare & spelling and JUST look at the issues...
They do segregate them, you know
Look at the Curley K-8 school in JP as an example. The little kids are actually in a separate building. Even advanced-work kids are in a separate wing.
But you're assuming that all young teens are animals. Not true. If done right, having them help the little kids out can be good for both groups. Think mentoring and tutoring programs.
Also, not to minimize the issue of school closings, but if you look at where the five elementary schools are, they're scattered across the city. It's not like every single kid in Brighton will suddenly have to go to school in East Boston or something.
Thank you for pointing out
Thank you for pointing out the segregation of students. The Curley is a very good school. The K-8 model at the Curley is an excellent example of how parents work with the administrators to keep the school in good standing. The parents in JP are involved ... Have you ever been to Orchard Gardens? The four year olds walk & talk like a "PIMP" it is horrific. IMAGINE...You see this beautiful four year old and they walk and talk like something out of "SHAFT". If you knew me you would know that I don't think all young teens are animals....If I came across that way I certainly did not mean to. I guess it is the "one bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch girl" Any school closing is significant. The neighborhood children DO get sent all over the city. When I was growing up I lived in Boston I was assigned to the English High and my best friend was assigned to West Roxbury High. Talk about a sin..she lived two doors down on the SAME side of the street.
Busing and pimp babies
Ah, OK. I was talking about elementary grades (especially since you were bringing up 4-year-olds).
Busing at the high-school levei is really a different issue.
As for little kids walking around like pimp daddies, I'm going to hazard a guess that that would be going on even if there were no seventh-graders around.
That is probably true! I saw
That is probably true! I saw your other blog site. You are very well informed about BPS. I hope that others see your other blog SO that they can be as informed.
I feel very badly about what is happening with education in the city and in the state. I am overwhelmed with the feeling that there are many people that just have their own agenda & aren't REALLY looking out for the kids. I know that MCAS scores aren't exactly where they should be, we have many failing school. The public is blaming the teachers BUT they don't realize that many of these students in the system especially the past 5 years are overwhelming classes due to lack of vocabulary, content words, conversational language skills because they just came from Haiti or SantoDomingo or Puerto Rico etc...The adminstration really has to emphasize additional learning experiences for these students in particular AND the money spent on the bus & the dangerous ride could be used for this learning & additional resources for these students. Most classrooms have only one teacher with up to 25 students. It is a serious situation and it has to be looked at AS A SERIOUS SITUATION. You are knowledgeable and you must understand what I mean about the bus situation, the schools closing could be used to tutor or as learning centers to ease these children into the regular ed. classroom. I feel bad for the second lang. students because even when they catch up they will still be a few years behind. Let's spend the money on the student learning NOT on a bus that is unsafe.
A different perspective
After reading some of your responses, I realized that I grew up in a different world.
I went to grammar school in my neighborhood of Dorchester, later moved to Roslindale and and graduated from Roslindale High School 1 year before the onset of busing. My grandmother walked my brother and I to and from school until we were in the 4th grade, then we walked home with friends. If my grandmother wasn't available, a parent with their own children going on the same direction would take us along. Personally, I wouldn't put my 4 year old child on a bus thinking the driver is going to watch over them, he's not being paid to be a babysitter. The driver is supposed to be watching the road, not tend to a kid tossing his breakfast. I have to agree with Dushiteacher in that a caretaker, whomever it is, should be tending to children's safety on their way to school. Leaving it up to the bus driver is similar to passing the buck.
And yes safety is most definitely an issue. I have witnessed school bus drivers driving over the speed limit with children onboard. I live near a school on a cut through road and have seen them fly by at 50mph. Oon the other side of the coin, there are drivers who pass school buses in a rush to get somewhere and completely ignore the stop sign the driver has put out so kids can get off the bus and cross the street safely. I would most definitely worry about my child's safety. The last thing any parent wants to get is a phone call telling them their child has been in an accident.
If children are able to go to their neighborhood schools, like it once was, that would eliminate the need to pay drivers, maintain buses and cost of fuel to run the buses and neighborhood moms who walk their children to school may possibly take your child as well.
On the subject of ESL classes for non English speaking students, I don't agree that there is a need for them as much as I believe teachers should be taking a little bit of extra time to teach the child. I may be wrong in this, however, English was not my first language and going to kindergarten in the BPS system was akin to going to a foreign country. ESL classes did not exist. I had very patient teachers who taught me words and how to read along the way and in turn I taught my parents.
You may say I'm old school and out of touch, but having grown up and lived in Boston nearly my entire life I can honestly say I have street smarts, which I see some of you lacking, but please don't take offense; a little insight and prevention could be extremely beneficial in the long run.
I pray your children will grow healthy and happy.
Mariben