Busing all the students at the same time would save Ann Arbor schools money
Well, I made it to 1 a.m. at last night's Ann Arbor Public Schools board meeting. I really wanted to see the outcome of the budget debate. It dragged on because of the busing issue. For future reference, I don't think it is a good idea to be designing a transportation strategy in real time when it is past midnight and on live television.
Ironically, I thought of an idea that may help. If high schoolers (and maybe middle schoolers too) would take the same bus as the elementary school kids, they could then take a subsequent bus from the elementary school to the high school.
This, of course, would mean that the high school classes would start a little later (which teens would love) and the elementary school kids may have to start just a little earlier. This would be very efficient because right now the buses have to cover a wide geographic area for the estimated 1,200 high school students who don't drive to school. Also, there would be other subtle advantages that come with a situation in which there is one bus pickup (for all grades) for an entire neighborhood.
Parents in the neighborhood would get to know each other better even if their kids are very different ages. Parents of young kids would get a chance to meet potential babysitters from upper grades. The more mature upperclassman on the bus can let their parents know who is misbehaving on the bus, and the parents can talk amongst themselves about it.
Lastly, if you are concerned about older kids being abusive to younger kids, that would be a problem -- but it pales in comparison to the risk of a female high school student taking an AATA bus (the district's original suggestion) by herself. I shudder at the thought of that.
Lawrence A. Murphy
Ann Arbor
Comments
Charlie Brown's Ghost
Mon, Jun 20, 2011 : 5:01 p.m.
One thing about that idea is that first-graders would learn new vocabulary and behaviors from the high school kids. It wouldn't be the vocabulary or behaviors any parent would want then to learn, though. Good Night and Good Grief
Larry Murphy
Wed, Sep 14, 2011 : 7:04 p.m.
My 3rd grader has already learned those words from the 5th graders on his bus.
sh1
Sun, Jun 19, 2011 : 8:17 a.m.
Don Bee, most elementary teachers I know would like the day to start earlier, so can you cite your evidence that teachers rejected the idea of students sharing a bus?
Edward R Murrow's Ghost
Sun, Jun 19, 2011 : 1:52 a.m.
"There was pressure from bus drivers (now gone), teachers and others not to change the school day. So the study was buried. " And proof of this? Naaaah. I'm guessing that the parents of elementary school children weren't thrilled about their kids riding with HS and JHS students. But I'm just guessing--not citing as fact--as others do with no evidence whatsoever to support their assertions. Good Night and Good Luck
DonBee
Sat, Jun 18, 2011 : 10:59 p.m.
The bus study AAPS spent a great deal of consulting money on and then buried, indicated that one bus to pick up all grades was the best solution to saving money (at the time about 50% of the total cost of the bus system). There was pressure from bus drivers (now gone), teachers and others not to change the school day. So the study was buried. Now we save way less than that by stopping high school busing - penny wise, pound foolish, but that is our AAPS Board of Education - pay experts for studies and then ignore the results.
Marshall Applewhite
Sat, Jun 18, 2011 : 8:39 p.m.
This only makes sense if the busses are large enough to accommodate everyone at once.