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- Mar 24, 2005
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This isn't about cats. It's about kids- high school ones.
My first question to you all is this- when you were in high school (or if you still are), did you ride the bus or drive yourself to school?
I have a Senior and a Freshman. The senior got her licence over last summer. A year ago- the car I was driving- a 2000 Chevy Venture needed 3K worth of work done on it. Dh went and bought another car (2010 Ford Focus) that I drive. We also got the van fixed, figuring that teaching/ letting a 16 year old drive a "tank" around town is a whole lot safer than some of the smaller vehicles. She wasn't thrilled with it at first. But has since admitted to me that yes- it's not exactly a "cool" car to be driving- but "a" car is better than "no" car.
So anyways- she wanted to drive it to school. At her school, Juniors and Seniors are allowed to drive as long as you buy a $15 sticker at the beginning of the year (which I did).
This school is only 5 years old. Across the street from it is a vacant lot. With a "road going nowhere". It's zoned for business, but I'm guessing since we have such a slow economy, they're having a time selling it. So- there's about 30 kids (underclassmen/ kids without stickers) who park over there. The kids call it "redneck parking"
Yeah- there's a rule on the books about not driving- but it's been "wink/wink" you can park across the street. However, dd has said there's been some near misses between kids and cars. And just 1 incident of a kid getting hurt could mean serious trouble to a school system that already has financial issues.
So, the school has decided to enforce it. I got 2 phone calls over the weekend, and the kids were warned on Friday. Not only are they closing the road off- they're going to have police officers at the site and in the parking lot to make sure that ONLY kids with stickers are driving to school. When I took the youngest into school this morning (she went in late b/c she's had whatever crud's been floating around the house for the past week)- sure enough the "road to nowhere" was blocked off. I didn't see any police cars in the parking lot. But I'll bet it was a mess there this morning.
So- how would you all feel? As a parent of a kid who made her wait- I have no sympathy for the kids who aren't supposed to be driving. There is a bus for after school activities. Yeah- it doesn't drop your kid off at the same bus stop they normally get off. If your kid is staying after school- and they need a ride you deal with it. You find someone to help. I've done that for people who've had activites with the kids and I knew that their parents might not be able to get them in time.
I had a few instances where dd was "stuck" at school b/c I couldn't get there- dh couldn't get there. It was no fun- but I eventually got her. She only had to wait 20 extra minutes or so. It was a pain- I had 3 different voicemails on my phone- but could do NOTHING- I was stuck in traffic a half-hour away.
Thanks for listening.
Cheryl
My first question to you all is this- when you were in high school (or if you still are), did you ride the bus or drive yourself to school?
I have a Senior and a Freshman. The senior got her licence over last summer. A year ago- the car I was driving- a 2000 Chevy Venture needed 3K worth of work done on it. Dh went and bought another car (2010 Ford Focus) that I drive. We also got the van fixed, figuring that teaching/ letting a 16 year old drive a "tank" around town is a whole lot safer than some of the smaller vehicles. She wasn't thrilled with it at first. But has since admitted to me that yes- it's not exactly a "cool" car to be driving- but "a" car is better than "no" car.
So anyways- she wanted to drive it to school. At her school, Juniors and Seniors are allowed to drive as long as you buy a $15 sticker at the beginning of the year (which I did).
This school is only 5 years old. Across the street from it is a vacant lot. With a "road going nowhere". It's zoned for business, but I'm guessing since we have such a slow economy, they're having a time selling it. So- there's about 30 kids (underclassmen/ kids without stickers) who park over there. The kids call it "redneck parking"
So, the school has decided to enforce it. I got 2 phone calls over the weekend, and the kids were warned on Friday. Not only are they closing the road off- they're going to have police officers at the site and in the parking lot to make sure that ONLY kids with stickers are driving to school. When I took the youngest into school this morning (she went in late b/c she's had whatever crud's been floating around the house for the past week)- sure enough the "road to nowhere" was blocked off. I didn't see any police cars in the parking lot. But I'll bet it was a mess there this morning.
So- how would you all feel? As a parent of a kid who made her wait- I have no sympathy for the kids who aren't supposed to be driving. There is a bus for after school activities. Yeah- it doesn't drop your kid off at the same bus stop they normally get off. If your kid is staying after school- and they need a ride you deal with it. You find someone to help. I've done that for people who've had activites with the kids and I knew that their parents might not be able to get them in time.
I had a few instances where dd was "stuck" at school b/c I couldn't get there- dh couldn't get there. It was no fun- but I eventually got her. She only had to wait 20 extra minutes or so. It was a pain- I had 3 different voicemails on my phone- but could do NOTHING- I was stuck in traffic a half-hour away.
Thanks for listening.
Cheryl