Sharraxaadda
My co-worker has a child at Barnard--the school system told her he could be picked up here. However, since school starts, I can count on one hand the number of times he has been picked up.
I think he has been picked up/dropped off ONCE within 10 minutes of the scheduled time. The time variance is 30-45 minutes.
One time the school bus driver just kept going, with him sitting in the bus, and his mother desperately waving her down. Almost one hour later, the school figured out where her child was and had her drive over to pick him up.
Is this really not something that NHPS can handle?
7 Faalladas
Anonymous (Martida)
NHPS doesn't run the buses themselves, I believe they contract out the work to various companies (First Student, for example). This seems like a very frustrating situation for the parent involved. I'd try making several phone calls to get some resolution on this. First, try calling the bus company themselves and speaking to a Supervisor so that they can talk directly with the driver on this particular route. This might help solve the problem of tightening the time frame when the child can be expected to be picked up, and also clarify where he should be dropped off.
I'd also call the Principal of Barnard and talk to them about this. If the Principal is aware of the situation, that should help. Make them aware of what is going on with this bus company, since they should at least be aware of who is contracting this company (and that they're not doing their job well).
This will most likely take a few phone calls to bring to the attention of various people involved, but once they're aware hopefully there will be improvements. Again, though, be aware that NHPS hires the buses but doesn't run them themselves, so they need to be told directly when something isn't working well.
David Streever (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
Thanks for the tips: I should specify, my co-worker has actually spoken to First Student (who owns the bus), the driver in person 3 times, and called the principal of Barnard about 6 times (she was told "this will only be a problem this first week of school").
Is is super frustrating. I'm hoping that by posting this we can see if more people have the same problem, and get them involved to try and make First Student step up their efforts.
Anonymous (Martida)
Davis Parent (Martida)
Teach Our Children (Martida)
David Streever (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
Sadly, in the case of the parent I reported this for, she and her husband decided to leave NHPS. There was simply too much disorganization and it was impossible for their family to completely re-schedule their lives around:
1. Buses not stopping or never even appearing on their route
2. Dismissal time varying by as much as 30-45 minutes, with no notification whatsoever. "Why was the bus an hour late with my kid?" "The bus wasn't late, ma'am, we just had a late dismissal."
3. Incredibly rude and inept administrators who were unable to explain the unannounced and never apologized for bizarre scheduling issues.
My co-worker really wanted her child to be in a diverse public school system where he could encounter kids from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, but could not shift her schedule by an hour with no notice, could not continually leave work and wait for 30-45 minutes beyond the bus drop-off time in a panic worrying about her child's safety while NO ONE answered phones at the school.
This is the type of top-down chaos and poor management that citizens shouldn't accept or allow from their government, and I appreciate Teach Our Children working on these issues.
La xidhay City of New Haven (La Caddeeyey Rasmi ah)