Humble Independent School District Refuses to Bus Kids Nearly Two Miles From Elementary School.
I’m not even a parent, and I’m outraged at this.
Right now I’m watching a story about it on a different news channel; this one following the families who live in a subdivision 2 miles (a 45-minute walk) from Ridge Creek Elementary. Parents are worried about the dangers of traffic; worried that their young children will get lost on all the twisty turns in the 2-mile distance (we’re talking about kids as young as five, here). One father voiced his concern that once the children make it to school, they will be too tired to pay attention and learn (and learning is supposed to be the entire purpose of school…or so I thought).
Not all parents can drive their children to school, and not all parents can afford to hire a babysitter to take their kids to school. This is creates a dangerous situation for the parents of those kids.
(Tangent rant: Crap like this is another reason why I don’t like public schools: Even if they do manage to give you a decent education, some of them endanger you just trying to get there [this isn’t the first local news story about students having a dangerous or long walk to school]. Maybe if they cut the football coach’s pay they could afford more buses? Tangent over, now back to the main rant.)
And while I’m all about “exercise is important, rah rah rah, kids need exercise;” it’s entirely different when child safety is at risk. Yes, walking miles a day will make the kids fit and strong, but at what cost? Four miles a day is a bit much for a child (especially one as young as five or six). In addition to the safety concerns, there’s also the possibility that the students will be too worn out from the walk to concentrate on their studies.
And if the kids aren’t learning, then that long walk was for nothing.
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And now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to do some yoga and calm down.