by Stephanie Newitt
School has begun and the morning craziness has started. Bus stop schedules have been distributed by
the district. Maybe your child has old
friends at the bus stop, maybe they have the chance to build new
friendships. Maybe your child attends a
neighborhood bus stop or maybe it’s a new regional bus stop. Whatever the case, it is most likely that
they will mirror your parent view of the bus stop experience.
FIRST, LOGISTICS
If you have questions about your child’s bus stop, check out
THIS LINK to the GPS
Transportation Department. The number of bus stops, though NOT the number
of actual buses, have multiplied for 2015-16 due to the regionalization of ALP,
Special Education, and ELL services. We
appreciate that the task of organizing bus routes and bus availability is more
complex this year than it has ever been before.
We thank the transportation department for their efforts with this
daunting task.
NOW FRIENDSHIPS
This is our third year attending a regional bus stop. For our first year, all the children were new
to the bus stop. They made friends. Though some of the children were in different
grades, they connected. They looked out
for each other. They playfully teased
each other and respected one another.
This was their social safety net as they rode the bus to a new school.
What helped make this possible? As parents we got out of our cars and connected
with other parents. This encouraged our
kids to interact as well. We parents swapped
phone numbers so we could notify one another if one of the kids wouldn’t be on
the bus one morning or schedule after school play dates at the park. As parents we supported one another in teaching
our children respect for each other, the driver and the property of
others. We shared similar values. And we got together at least once over each
summer so the kids could still feel connected.
