It looks like a hot meeting is on the way tomorrow night at the Jefferson County Board of Education’s Vanhoose Education Center.
Fox 41 reported several days ago that parents are “Still heated over busing issues.”
But, the real news attached to that article may be a reader comment from Ms. Kerry Seelye.
Seelye isn’t a web mirage. She exists, I talked to her and she stands behind her comments.
And, Seelye’s comments hint that Jefferson County’s problems may be much more extensive than the popular media is reporting.
Seelye’s two grandchildren don’t go to any of the three schools – Lincoln, Chancey and King Elementary Schools – where all the problems supposedly occurred.
Seelye’s grandchildren go to Cochran Elementary School.
However, per Seelye, her grandchildren didn’t get home on day one of the new school year until 6:30 PM. Then, the next morning pickup bus was over an hour late, so the kids naturally arrived late to school. The evening of day two, the kids didn’t get home until 6:15 PM. Things didn’t run much better the following day; Seelye’s grandchildren still didn’t get home until 5:45 PM.
School lets out at 3:45, so those children from Cochran were trapped in a clearly dysfunctional busing operation for two hours after school let out even on day three.
Seelye tells me that on Friday, the kids didn’t make it to the drop-off until 5:30 PM. To put this in perspective, last year, Seelye says her grandchildren were dropped off by 4:05 PM.
Also, parents who could not get straight answers about when the bus would make the drop-off have been waiting outside in the hot weather, every day, starting at 4 PM.
Seelye’s comments about the herding (sorry, there is no kind way to describe it) the kids endured during their after school wait for the bus are also unsettling. The children were assembled in the gym and forced to sit on the hard floor, with no snacks or water allowed. Her grandchildren were expected to endure that abusive situation for an hour and a half until the bus finally showed up around 5:15.
If you are aware of similar busing issues in Jefferson County for other schools, let us know with a comment below. Post anonymously if you feel threatened, but posts with real names will carry more weight with our readers.
And, if you are a Louisville parent with children who have been treated like Ms. Seelye’s and you don’t show up at the board meeting tomorrow or at least send them a formal, written complaint, shame on you.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Jefferson County busing mess: Are we getting the whole story?
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6 comments:
I do not go to Cochran however on Day One my children were kept at their school also because the bus never showed up - the driver was still out delivering the middle/high school routes and never showed up at elementary school. A substitute bus and driver were sent by the bus depot and arrived at 4:45. My students were home less than 5 minutes later. Day Two they got home at 3:45. Yes, I said 3:45. Granted we are the first stop...but one minute of travel time? No, the children were dismissed early to make up some of the bus times. Today at church, I heard from several children who attended school only one day last week. The bus never showed up after Tuesday adn the children's parents do not have vehicle access. There are some major problems across the system. On Friday, the bus driver gave me a handout I should 'sign and return' guaranteeing my understanding of rider responsibilities on the bus - my question who is guaranteeing the school's responsibilities to the children and their parents?!?
RE: Anonymous 22 Aug at 4:29 PM
Thank you for your input about the busing situation. I don't think anyone in the "popular press" has picked up on kids missing school most of the week due to completely missing buses or about schools dismissing early so the bus timing would look good.
Can you identify the school?
Please as any others you know to submit their experiences here, as well.
Your last question about who is guaranteeing the school system is living up to its responsibilities is right on target. That would be a great question to ask tomorrow night.
My child goes to one of the "premier" schools in JCPS, Jefferson County Traditional Middle School. The first day of school my son got to school over an hour after school started! The next day it was 50minutes. Even BEFORE school started I had contacted Transportation and told them the bus as scheduled with 36 stops in my area could not even under a perfect scenario make it to school before 8:30!
By Friday, after much parental outcry it was changed, now my son arrives about 3 minutes before school starts!
You never get the entire story from JCPS everyone stays in damage control mode 100% of the time and sweeps things under the rug! Marty Bell quietly left for a district in Southern Indiana, Pat Todd director of student assignment for the most part quietly retired. There are reasons for these things folks and they stem from the board hiring an unqualified applicant for Superintendent! Two JCPS high schools have more students than the ENTIRE district he came from! Berman is in over his head!
Imagine if the dollars spent on transportation were instead funneled towards improving academic performance!
RE: Anonymous Aug 24 at 11:55 AM
Thank you for providing more insight into the real chaos in the busing program.
How long does your child have to wait after school for pickup, and where does your child do that waiting? Is it anything like the situation faced by Ms. Seelye, as described in the main blog?
Also, if you know others who have stories to tell, please encourage them to post those here.
And, we will be pleased to talk off or on the record with parents. Call our home office at 270-782-2140 to set that up.
btw before 8:30 and JCTMS starts school at 7:37!
since they changed our stop to the last stop in the morning he has been making it on time, just barely! In the afternoons its been ok especially since the stop change.
I would also like to add, I pretty much forced this child (my 3rd) to attend Traditional school because of bad experiences at regular school. Its not right that the quality of education is so much better at traditional schools and I am sick of administrators blaming the kids! We all understand the challenged of socioeconomically challenged students but saying "its all their fault is not accurate!"
I will give you a call to discuss off the record some things involving that situation I doubt many are aware of, but should be! Thanks
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