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On the article Oswego 308 Will Offer Pay-to-Ride Bus Program for 2013-14 School Year
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On the article Oswego 308 Will Offer Pay-to-Ride Bus Program for 2013-14 School Year
Guest
12:37 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
@Logansdad...without knowing the situation, I can see why you are having a hard time understanding. This not about kids walking on snow covered sidewalks. In my previous posts I explained that for the past 6 years that my children have attended school, they were provided busing service because we fell outside of the 1.3 mile radius. Then suddenly (week before school started), we were told the boundary was extended to 1.5 miles and we were no longer eligible for busing service because of budget constraints. We were led to believe there was now safe passage because a sidewalk was installed and the school district had an agreement with the park district to keep it shoveled and maintained. After our last major snow fall a couple weeks back, I witnessed several students walking in the street, because the side walks were snow covered and unmaintained. I don't have a problem with snow on the sidewalks and I let my children play in the snow all of the time, but when students are walking in the street, on one of the major subdivision entrances...it is not a safe passage. I also witnessed on many occasions cars not stopping at stop signs, poor signage and poor road markings along this "safe passage". All of these issues have been brought to the asst. superintendent's attention and other members in the district and nothing is being done unless I want to pay roughly $500 per student to ride the bus. What a sham !
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On the article Oswego 308 Will Offer Pay-to-Ride Bus Program for 2013-14 School Year
Guest
5:10 pm on Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Oswego Resident...I would agree that if a school bus route is full, they could not offer rides to others...but this is not the case. These buses are not full and not at capacity. But by the grace of God, they are able to muster up a few more buses if we are willing to pay for them. You mean to tell me they are going to send a separate bus to my house to pick up my kids...hell no...they will tell them to jump on the half empty bus already driving through my neighborhood. But I do agree with your comment, "So now you get a situation where one family gets free rides and others do not. A tempest waiting to explode". This argument/debate is not about convenience. It's about the safety of our kids and what the school board deems as safe passage. Why was it ok to bus my elementary students the last 4 years, but now it is isn't? The distance limit was 1 mile....then they moved it to 1.3...and this year it is 1.5. The only change in those years was the installation of a sidewalk that is not maintained by anyone, yet the school district says it is safe passage and uses it as a crutch to justify taking away busing from us. Clearly the school district is behind the eight ball with the budget and they are trying to recoup it from us any way they can.
As for your little community thing...it's nice that you live in "Mayberry", but not all communities are like that in this district. Time for you to realize that. -
On the article Oswego 308 Will Offer Pay-to-Ride Bus Program for 2013-14 School Year
Guest
4:22 pm on Wednesday, March 20, 2013
I have made many calls and sent many emails to the district about crossing guards, increased signage, street marking, etc....all have gone unanswered. perfect example of our school district at work....better to ignore the situation then deal with the issues
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On the article Oswego 308 Will Offer Pay-to-Ride Bus Program for 2013-14 School Year
Guest
4:11 pm on Wednesday, March 20, 2013
@Logansdad...I don't have a problem with students walking to schools...I encourage it. But the school district misled many parents by ensuring our children safe passage when they took away our busing service and they have failed.
As a result, my wife and I have driven our kids to school and picked them up every day. To offer bus transportation to us, at a cost of roughly $500 per student, when buses are not at capacity and they drive right through our neighborhood is wrong...whether the distance is 1.5 miles or 6 miles. -
On the article Oswego 308 Will Offer Pay-to-Ride Bus Program for 2013-14 School Year
Guest
4:01 pm on Wednesday, March 20, 2013
ReplyWhether the money comes from the state or from the school district, it is still tax dollars out of my pocket...shared burden or not.
And yes...I have seen school buses these days. None of the buses that I witnessed contain 72 students. If the bus has a capacity of 72 passenger, and the school district is not filling them to maximum capacity and then asking families to pay extra to ride a bus that's not right. The state determines that 72 passengers on the bus is safe...if the bus has less then that, what kind of safety hazard is that?
I could ask the same question to you Oswego Resident...Why should I foot the bill for your child to take the bus because you live in the country, when my student is just as deserving. If you take the total student enrollment, I would be willing to bet that nearly 85-90% of them live within a 1-3 mile radius of the school they attend. So 10-15% of the student population is more deserving than my child? Would you allow your first grade student to walk 1.5 miles in below freezing temps, with 6-8 inches of snow on a sidewalk that is not maintained? The unmaintained section of sidewalk that I am referring to is supposed to be maintained by the Park district. The school district led us to believe they had an agreement with them to clear these sections of sidewalks. They failed miserably. Believe it or not, the school district deems this as "safe passage". Now since they cannot ensure safe passages, they are going to charge us for busing. -
On the article Oswego 308 Will Offer Pay-to-Ride Bus Program for 2013-14 School Year
Guest
2:17 pm on Wednesday, March 20, 2013
ReplySo let me get this straight...the school district is experiencing a short fall on the budget and needs to make the money up somehow, so they charge roughly $500 per student to ride the bus, back and forth for 175 school days that live within the 1.5 mile radius of school? Considering the buses can hold 72 passengers and I doubt any of the buses are at full capacity, it kind of feels likes we are once again being taken advantage of. I would have to agree with 1toomanytickets. It isn't fair to ask a family to foot the bill because they live closer to school. Instead, the families that live much further out should pay extra. My wife works for an elementary school in the district that does not have kindergarten. Did you know the school district pays for everyone of those kids to be picked up at their doors to be bused across the district to a school that has kindergarten? Did you know the district pays for taxis to pick up children that are deemed "homeless" or less advantaged? I am all for fair and equal education for all students, but don't "penalize" some families by charging for bus service while others are getting a free ride.
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On the article Oswego High Schools Changing Class Load to Include Instructional Support
Guest
8:21 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013
ReplyAre we not sending the wrong message to these kids? We are telling them, if you don't want to work hard, that's ok...you only need to take 6 classes. What happens when these students go to college? Are they going to take the bare minimum of the number of classes in college becasue the Oswego School Board says it's ok to do it in high School? Instead of taking academics away in favor of a "guided study hall", how about the school board vote to have after school help or provide some form of tutoring. I am sure that if a student was having trouble in class and asked a teacher for after school help, they would oblige. Just another example fo the School Board destroying this school district. How many more years do we have to put up with these board members?
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On the article Orchard Road BP Gas Station Closes
Guest
8:24 am on Friday, September 28, 2012
ReplyI'm surprised it took this long. The BP on Douglas and Route 34 and the the BP at Orchard and Route 34 were always .20 - .30 cents more expensive then the Walmart, Meijer, Dominicks.
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On the article Board to Discuss Adding Four Points to No-Bus List
Guest
8:06 am on Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Walt...My apologies for not providing more details. If you look on the district 308 website and go to BoardDoc and under meetings select the agenda for May 7th, Action item 8.4 has both the Power Point presentation and the recorded board meeting. Of course the presentation does not have the details, but I seem to recall Angie Smith mentioning in the recording the advantage with purchasing 14 passenger buses is that teachers/coaches would be able to drive their players. I was not specifically referring to football. It applies more to the smaller clubs throughout the district. I also recall one of the board members asking why purchase 14 passenger buses? The answer from Angie Smith was, "it's the largest bus that can be purchased and driven that does not require a special licences".
Guest
12:45 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
@J Collins - If your buses are at full capacity and they are riding 3 to a seat, then I can see your concern. Have you reported this to someone? I can only harbor a guess that if they are sitting 3 to a seat, they are OVER capacity and this is definitely a safety hazard and illegal.