child with Fragile X takes 45 minute bus ride to school

[liberal_at_heart]

A special needs child with Fragile X syndrome in the Kent School District in WA had to take a 45 minute bus ride including a transfer to get to his school. His parents say that is too stressful and dangerous for a child who can become overwhelmed, stressed, and confused easily. They tried working with the school district. The parents say the district did not listen to them at all. In fact hung up the phone on the parents a couple of times. The school district eventually came up with a solution that would eliminate the transfer but would still include a 45 minute bus ride. The parents contacted a tv consumer reporter. Guess what? With the threat of bad publicity, the school district finally came up with a route directly to the school that takes 10 minutes. This is what makes me angry with our public school system. As a parent with a child with special needs I have run into this kind of problem as well. Public School Districts have no flexibility. They don't listen and frankly sometimes it seems like they don't even care. This is one of the major problems with our public school system. This has to change.

[LaydeeBug]

1. It is outrageous.

I carry the gene, and it's a big part of the reason I decided not to have children.

[liberal_at_heart]

9. oh, wow

I'm sorry that carrying a particular gene has kept you from having a family. Do you want kids? Have you looked into adoption. We have lots of bad genes in our family. I have the BRCA1 gene which greatly increases my chances for cancer. My son has autism which means my husband and I probably carry the gene and my son and even my daughter may carry the autism gene on to their children. I don't know if my husband has any mutated genes but he always seems to be sick with something. I never really considered not having children. I guess I figured we are all doomed somehow. Not very many people around who are 100% healthy their entire lives with no messed up genes.

[elleng]

2. Right; somehow school administrators seem to have lost their ability to REASON.

[liberal_at_heart]

4. "administrators", exactly

Teachers we know care because they interact with our children on a daily basis and go out of their way to help them. Well at least most teachers anyway. But administrators don't interact with our children. They sit in their offices and make decisions. Decisions that dare not be challenged. Well we are getting tired of it and it will no longer go unchallenged.

[HiPointDem]

32. yeah, they're all irrational monsters. their inability to respond to every parents' concerns can't

have anything to do with three years of steady budget cuts and the loss of over 100 positions.

This was 2009, and it was just the beginning.

'Extremely serious': Kent School District eyes drastic cuts

With a potential budget gap of up to $16 million in next year's financial plan, the Kent School District is looking at potentially painful cuts at every level, including the possible elimination of all vocal-music and physical-education specialists at the elementary school, all seventh-grade and junior-varsity athletics at the middle schools as well as ninth- and 10th-grade sports teams and several high-school junior-varsity teams.

The budget concerns also could mean increased class sizes in every grade, and the virtual elimination of professional development for teachers and staff and the mid-day and activity buses run by the district.

http://www.kentreporter.com/news/39575219.html

[elleng]

38. No thanks for suggesting I said they are all 'irrational monsters;'

I did not. I have, however, noticed an overabundance of foolish decisions by administrators over the past years.

[HiPointDem]

41. "somehow school administrators seem to have lost their ability to REASON." where's the qualifier?

[Brickbat]

3. In our area, districts have cut to the bone and a request like this may be sluffed off simply

because the district doesn't have the resources to cater in the way it should. The wheel has always had to squeak to get the grease. Some public school districts do have the resources to be flexible. Some do not. Taking one example and extrapolating it to the entire system is foolish.

ETA: No child should have to sit on the bus for 45 minutes, Fragile X or not. My kids would if they took the bus in the morning; we live in a sprawling rural district. I can't possibly have them ready to go by 6:50 a.m., so I drive them every morning.

[liberal_at_heart]

5. I live in an affluent area with lots of local taxes

to pay for flexibility. We don't get flexibility. Instead we get new football fields and digital billboards. But you are right in the regard that sometimes a lack of funding is the problem. But it is not the only problem.

[HiPointDem]

28. well, kent has taken budget cuts in 2010-11 and 2011-12. 110 positions in 2011-12.

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&tbo=d&sclient=psy-ab&q=kent+school+district+budget+cuts&oq=kent+school+district+budget+cuts&gs_l=hp.3..0i30l3j0i8i30.722.8790.0.9470.34.18.0.10.10.3.743.6237.0j3j5j6j1j1j2.18.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.pYBLzO_9wAo&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=5d527eb822d82db0&bpcl=38625945&biw=1024&bih=585

[bluedigger]

18. My school district had 11 towns in it and one high school.

45 minutes was an average bus ride for me - make all the stops, go to the junior high in town, then cross the river and up the hill to the HS, which I could see from the end of my street. It was about a five mile drive, but only a mile and a half if you wanted to swim the river, lol. And I lived in the county seat and home of the district. I had friends who spent a couple hours a day on the bus (or more) and couldn't participate in after school activities because they couldn't arrange transportation home. That only happened to HS students, though - there were several local elementary schools and two junior highs.

[Major Nikon]

6. Most school systems offer no systems for the redress of grievances

So the only avenues you have are either to file a lawsuit or contact your school board representative who probably doesn't give a shit.

[HiPointDem]

8. baloney.

[liberal_at_heart]

11. it's not baloney in my school district

I asked for a hearing to ask if our son could be put in a different special needs program. We were told his IQ was too high and there was nothing they could do for us. No hearing.

[HiPointDem]

7. Link? Kent ain't that big; 45 minutes would get you into seattle.

[liberal_at_heart]

10. It was a story on King 5 news

http://www.king5.com/video/featured-videos/Family-of-special-needs-child-whose-bus-route-changed-gets-Jesse-179403671.html

[Suich]

15. I KNEW it was "Get Jesse!"

Some people really hate to see him show up at their door! Glad things worked out!

[HiPointDem]

16. here's a map of the district.

http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/GR

From sawyer woods elementary at the bottom of the map to fairwood elementary at the top it's 14 miles, 30 minutes.

But as you can see there's an elementary school roughly every couple of miles and 4 high schools, roughly every 5 miles.

I'm not sure why the child would have to bus 30 minutes (from one end of the district to the other) unless s/he is in a special school located at the farthest point from his/her home.

and as the kid is only 4, it's likely a head start/preschool program or something similar.

and personally, i wouldn't put my 4-year-old special needs kid on a bus in the first place. if there's a direct route that only takes 10 minutes, no idea why the parents didn't just drive him all the way to school.

[liberal_at_heart]

22. it may be that that one particular school has a program

that the other schools don't have. Most school districts will have some schools with particular special needs programs while other schools have different special needs programs. Sometimes it does mean busing or driving out of the way.

[HiPointDem]

26. It may be, as I acknowleged. But it's still only 30 minutes from one end of the district to the

other.

And the kid is in PRESCHOOL.

[Throckmorton]

12. This is why I have had to spend ten's of thousands on an Educational Lawyer over the past 5 years

I have had to fight in court 4 times in the past five years to get my Autistic Children the services they need. The town has denied just about every request unless we file for arbitration. Even then, we have sued 4 times, and won each time. My eldest is attending a boarding school for autistic boys on the towns dime now. This is after they refused to pay for his former school and brought him back to the local snake pit of a high school.

In fact, I am meeting with our lawyer in the morning, the school is now failing to follow my daughters IEP.

[liberal_at_heart]

13. I'm sorry you are having to go to such extremes

Last edited Thu Nov 15, 2012, 05:26 AM - Edit history (1)

I am glad to hear you have been successful. I hope you are able to get the school to cooperate with your daughter's IEP. I probably should have sued, but they now tell me that the high school level has much more flexibility than the middle school level? I would like to know why there is so much flexibility at the high school level and no flexibility at the middle school level. This doesn't sound right and it certainly didn't work for my son. It should be changed.

[LeftyMom]

14. Do the parents have a car?

If the school's only ten minutes away it makes more sense for them to drive their own kid than for an entire bus to be rerouted just for him. Buses drive around and pick up other people, they don't take you straight to your destination. That's the point of a bus.

[liberal_at_heart]

17. It is not the same for children with special needs

Special needs kids are suppose to receive special treatment when it comes to transportation. When was the last time you saw a school district just shove poor defenseless special needs children onto a regular school bus? It would not work very well. they have them on special needs transportation for a reason. Maybe both parents work. I don't know. I've been lucky enough I have always been able to drive my kids to school. But some school districts have funky hours. For instance our school district staggers school hours so they can use less buses. The high school and middle school start about 30 minutes apart. Some of them ride the same busses. But for our elementary school kids they start school at around 9 o'clock in the morning. Not to mention that on Wednesdays, school doesn't start until 10 so the teachers can have meetings and such.

[LeftyMom]

19. Well somebody's watching him until they put him on the bus.

[liberal_at_heart]

20. That's not the point

We shouldn't tell our parents oh sorry we can't bus your special needs children to school. We should tell our districts and our states and the federal government to make the school districts better so the special needs children can have proper transportation.

[HiPointDem]

24. they were already busing him to school; the parents didn't like the new route. they made a fuss

& got a new route.

i still don't understand why they don't just drive their FOUR-YEAR-OLD SPECIAL NEEDS CHILD to his preschool.

[HiPointDem]

21. it's a 4 year old. would you put your 4 year old special needs kid on a bus? and if the new route

only takes 10 minutes and the parents are (I suppose) with the kid until he gets on the bus, why not just take him to his school?

something about this story is weird.

[liberal_at_heart]

23. My autistic son rode the school bus to school when he was four

and it was not the school that was closest to us. The school that they enrolled him at had the particular special needs program that he needed. It still wasn't that far away but it was not the closest school.

[HiPointDem]

25. well, since the new route only takes 10 minutes, it's pretty close, i presume. if the bus stop is

far from their house, they're already taking him to the stop; why not just take him to the school?

personally, i'd get more information before going off on the school -- who, in fact, accomodated the parents. So in fact, it's not the MAJOR PROBLEM THE OP SAYS IT IS.

but no worries -- soon you'll have charter schools and you can all drive your kids.

[liberal_at_heart]

27. wow sounds like a lot of people are happy with the status quo

Well I'm sorry. I have a special needs child and have struggled with this kind of inflexibility before and I don't think we should just have to accept it. We need to make our schools better. And it's not just the special needs kids that get the short end of the stick either. My daughter says in her school if you struggle you are just given up on. The focus is put on kids who do get it and whom they know they can send off to college. For kids who struggle and whom they don't know how to help they simply give up on. We need more funding and we need more flexibility. If we truly want all of our children to succeed we will have to change our school system. If we want our drop out rate to decrease. If we want to compete globally. Hell, if we just want well rounded, knowledgeable, productive members of society who can think for themselves and solve problems we have to do better. Where is MadFloridian? If she was the one posting this I bet the responses would be different.

[HiPointDem]

29. I think the story doesn't make sense. And when it doesn't make sense, there's something they're

not telling you.

Sorry I didn't join you on the "Oh, the schools are so terrible and unresponsive" train.

Like I said, you'll have charter schools soon and you will be able to see how responsive they are and how much special transportation you get.

Kent SD has taken budget hits for the last two years and laid off 110 people. Kent SD is a mixed demographic, partly low-income and partly suburban yuppie types. It slants republican last time I checked. I wonder how many levies they voted to pass.

[argiel1234]

36. Then enroll your child in a charter school and pay for it with your own money

after all charter schools are largely for profit and if they are doing a great job you will surely want to enroll your child in one and pay the full cost

[SheilaT]

30. This is yet another example of why we need to fund our public schools properly.

Just imagine. Enough money for small enough classes. Enough money for the very many special needs students out there. No snark please. If you have not had a special needs child you have no clue. Enough money to pay for all the academics, all the programs, everything that is needed.

I was fortunate enough to be able to send my two sons to an independent (meaning secular private) school. I did so in the first place because the oldest son was being bullied in the (very good) public schools. The change was a world of difference for him, and after his first semester we moved the younger son also. I was immensely grateful that we had that choice. We eventually figured out that the older son has Asperger's, so he really was a special needs kid, even if we didn't realize it then.

There's also the issue of the bright kids being left behind, because there's this assumption that they'll manage no matter what. If our schools were funded properly ALL of our students would get the education they need.

The only problem I ever have with stories like these is that they wind up making it seem as if the kids with special needs are taking something away from everyone else. Again, it comes back to the funding. What could possibly be more important than funding our schools.

Oh, and for everyone who does not currently have a child in public school: Other people helped pay for your education. It's part of our commitment to a fair society that we all pay for the kids being educated now.

[liberal_at_heart]

31. thank you

It really hurts to not only be rejected by the school district but also from the democratic community. I did not expect this from here. Education is not the hot issue right now. If it were an election issue like social security or Medicare it would get more attention. Sometimes it seems that some people only care about the issues that will get their party elected. Thank you for caring about our special needs children and all of our children.

[HiPointDem]

33. where do you see the "democratic community" rejecting you? education *is* a hot issue now.

most school districts are dealing with massive ongoing budget cuts, new mandates, attacks on the profession.

please, i'm sure your personal situation has you worried, but other people have different situations.

kent has taken three years of budget cuts and washington looks like it's going to open up to charter schools.

sorry, i can't get too upset about a kid whose apparently normal parents don't want to drive their 4-year-old special needs child to his school 10 minutes away.

and since the family did, indeed, get redress, i don't see why you posted this except to bash public schools.

[SheilaT]

37. I cannot know what the original poster was actually thinking.

But too often these kinds of things get set up the way you've suggested: There is something wrong with the parents.

How about instead thinking there is something wrong with a school system that does not insure that each and every child has the education he or she deserves? I'm bothered by the implicit battleground here.

Do you think that all parents should be driving their kids to school if it's only ten minutes away? How about fifteen? How about thirty?

I respectfully suggest that this is not bashing of public schools, but a frustration at a public school system that pits one set of parents against another. That is so constrained financially that there need to be choices about who really gets an appropriate education.

I think maybe we could take money from the obscene wars and fund our schools properly.

[HiPointDem]

46. How about looking at 3+ years of funding cuts, the loss of over 100 positions, sports, arts and

music, activity buses, etc, plus the myriad new & idiotic unfunded mandates deriving from Bush's NCLB and Obama's RFTT?

These posts typically go something like this: Horror story + blame the teachers and principals, impute their character and intelligence, etc on the basis of 6 paragraphs in a newspaper.

And this thread is no exception.

The teachers and principals of individual schools have no power over budgets, how many buses are available, how they're routed, etc. That's central district administration, and above them state administrators, and above them federal administrators.

You're absolutely right; parents are being pitted against each other and against educators, by tight money -- and I add DELIBERATELY SO, in order to destroy public education. That's the big picture.

But you're wrong; it's *not* the public school system doing this pitting of people against each other -- it's the politicians and the Wall Street types who fund them, the money who incidentally owns the media that chooses to highlight such stories v. other stories. And in some cases creates such stories or distorts them.

I said if I had a four year old, let alone a SPECIAL NEEDS FOUR YEAR OLD, I'd drive them to their PRE-SCHOOL ten minutes away rather than have them ride a bus alone. Yes.

I don't know those parents' situation, maybe they don't have a car, or two cars, but they apparently do have the freedom to be with their child until he gets on the bus to ride to the school ten minutes away.


Special education is the biggest and fastest increasing part of education aside from college/university, and it's next on the hit list, mark my words: The Fordham Institute is a big player in education deform.

In an editorial this week, Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Michael J. Petrilli of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute argue that special education’s insulation from most spending reductions is a mistake.

They maintain that the assurance of funding built into federal education law through the “maintenance of effort” or MOE requirement “handcuffs states and districts by requiring that special-ed spending never decline from one year to the next. In times of plenty, this mandate discourages efforts to make productivity gains; when revenues shrink, it means that special-education spending will consume an ever-growing an ever-growing slice of school budgets.”

I’m sure that special ed advocates will find much to discuss in the editorial, but I found one line surprising: In explaining why U.S. Ed Secretary Arne Duncan backed away from undoing the MOE requirement, Finn and Petrilli blame “the powerful special-education lobby, which refused to accept anything other than expenditures escalating into perpetuity.”

http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2012/09/07/has-special-ed-become-the-sacred-cow-of-education-funding/

[argiel1234]

34. The obvious answer is to destroy the public school system

Fire all the teachers/bus drivers/janitors/etc, and completely bust all the unions


Then, the answer is to hire teachers "at will" who will work under constant fear at 8 dollars an hour and when they question anything, fire them as well.

Also, then give tax dollars to for profit companies who will indoctrinate children that Fragile X is a result of poor parents who are lazy and drug addicts and who hate Capitalism.


Therefore we must continue to expand Capitalism and enshrine for profit schools who will never bus children 45 minutes EVER.

[HiPointDem]

35. Yes, it's perfectly clear, that's the only answer to such terrible neglect. A lot of people in Kent

would like that, actually.

Until they get it, maybe. Which it looks like they're going to.

[argiel1234]

40. +10000

[Luminous Animal]

39. Please tell me the details of your special needs child and please tell me

how expect the private school system will address those needs.

[liberal_at_heart]

47. I never said I think private school would address my child's needs

When my child was in the 5th grade he was at a 3rd grade math level. The school district had a strict policy that all 6th graders had to take 6th grade math. So, my child had to take 6th grade math even though he was at a 3rd grade math level. Also, when we asked for a hearing to see if he could get into a special education class where there was more educational assistant help we were denied. They said his IQ was too high. The school district has a strict cut off point for the IQ. If it above their cut off point then they can't help you. Case closed. His entire 6th grade year he came home in tears asking to skip school. It is the strict district policies that I have a problem with. I am not a bad democrat because I expect my public school to live up to the ADA requirement that public schools help all children reach their full potential. Just because I criticize the current system does not mean I support charters. I don't. My child is worth fighting for and I will continue to fight for him even if that means fighting democrats as well as republicans. Every child is worth it. And by the way every child deserves a ride to school on a bus. That is what PUBLIC school means. What is truly sad here is that neither charters schools nor public schools are giving our special needs children the education they deserve and have a right to under the law. As a parent of a special needs child that is what really sucks!

[liberal_at_heart]

42. you people amaze me

As usual you are not allowed to criticize the status quo. Yes, absolutely because I believe our failing school system should be reformed that absolutely means I want to destroy our public school system. By the way I voted no on our charter school initiative here in WA state. Not that any of you care. You seem to assume I believe in the charter school system simply because I dare to criticize our current system. I guess the only two possibilities here are you are either for the status quo or you are for charter schools. No other choices. Unbelievable.

[HiPointDem]

43. not allowed? were your posts hidden or something?

[liberal_at_heart]

44. not allowed as in being attacked for saying anything bad about our current system

but I will not shut up. I will not stop. Our public school system is failing our kids and we must change it. AND NO I'M NOT SAYING CHARTERS ARE THE ANSWER. I DON'T THINK CHARTERS ARE THE ANSWER. But that doesn't mean there aren't other, better answers out there.

[HiPointDem]

45. You seem to mistake discussion, criticism and other people having an opinion different from yours

for an attempt to shut you up.

And it really doesn't matter what you think is the answer, the oligarchs' answer is education will be defunded; teachers will be deprofessionalized, and special education will be cut. And education money will go to private parties.

So if you're worried about your child's education and special needs, better take a look at the bigger picture.

[MrYikes]

48. The bus driver

should call to make sure a health professional was available prior to arriving at the pick up point. If no health professional is available, the parents would ride with the child or transport the child themselves. The bus driver is never to accept the responsibility of the child's health.
The child would be placed in seat belts by the bus monitor and the monitor would stay in visual contact with the child.

Pulling one bus to transport that one child may have caused three buses to be potentially overloaded and caused the children on those buses an even longer bus ride. One hour on a bus was the target, with one hour ten minutes occasionally overlooked.

You say "In fact hung up the phone on the parents a couple of times." What possibly would cause anyone to do that? Can you think of any reasons? I can.

Then you say "With the threat of bad publicity," Bad publicity does reduce funding, everyone happy now?

And then "This is what makes me angry with our public school system." Now tell me how angry the parents of the children who get home too late (yes the same rules apply transporting home) because of the overloaded buses are going to be and what voice do they use?

Buses cost over $100,000 and are replaced in 10 years with a yearly use of 200 days, therefore it costs $200 per day for the bus for that one child. Insurance, maintenance, fuel cost, driver cost, monitor cost, health professional cost would take the cost to $350. Are we all happy now?

Give the schools enough money and everyone will be happy. One child, one bus. Hey it worked for these parents, why not everyone?

Busing has one focus, safety. Because school bus people do that job well and without fanfare, people feel comfortable telling them how to do their job, therefore rules are created and published. Problems develop when trying to circumvent those rules.
With special needs kids come special rules which take into account various issues. Those rules are published and should be known by parents. Everyone wins when a new rule is added because some parent fought for their child's need. No one is against this, but it cannot be done over a casual phone call.

[liberal_at_heart]

49. if funding will solve the problem then let's make that a priority

I know Obama wants to hire math and science teachers. They are not the only ones who need funding. Every aspect of public schools needs increased funding. I still don't think funding will magically solve the problem, but I do agree we do need more funding. I also think inflexibility is a problem. There is no reason why they needed to make my 5th grade child who was at a 3rd grade math level take a 6th grade math class. There is no logical reason for that. That is simply inflexibility.

[My Good Babushka]

50. Are the buses public or private, I wonder.

Our public school uses a private company for buses, and they only do the minimum required by law. Whatever is cheapest.

[Iris]

51. In Atlanta, they put a school bus stop in front of a strip club.

I swear, it's like no one gives a shit anymore.