crazyeddie: sleep lack: 1.35 miles?
CruiserTwelve: Buy the kid a bicycle.
GrymRpr: Cry me a river. K-8 I walked to school 1.9 miles each way every day 5 days a week. Tho.. If I had lived more than 2 miles away I would have had a bus. In other words... Suck it up and move on snowflake.


"Public school system refuses to bus a student who lives 1.35 miles from school, making her continue to cross a busy interstate and dangerous roadways"


Dear Idiots,

Read the headline and article again. She isn't biatching about the distance, she's biatching about the DANGER.

Stay in School,
Your Betters

Ahhh a moron pipe's in.

Look skippy.. I had to cross intersections also during morning rush hour.
Just because I didn't give a step by step details of the walk does not mean it was any less dangerous.

You seem to suffer from the stupid, so I wana ask you a question:
Does that stupid hurt much?.

crazyeddie: sleep lack: 1.35 miles?
CruiserTwelve: Buy the kid a bicycle.
GrymRpr: Cry me a river. K-8 I walked to school 1.9 miles each way every day 5 days a week. Tho.. If I had lived more than 2 miles away I would have had a bus. In other words... Suck it up and move on snowflake.


"Public school system refuses to bus a student who lives 1.35 miles from school, making her continue to cross a busy interstate and dangerous roadways"


Dear Idiots,

Read the headline and article again. She isn't biatching about the distance, she's biatching about the DANGER.

Stay in School,
Your Betters

This is the 'danger'
Link

That's to say there is a side walk on both sides of the road and street lights to allow crossing.

Sim Tree: Why can't the kid walk 0.65 miles in the opposite direction and board the bus at the 2 mile limit mark with whomever lives over that way? Sure, it's a walk plus a bus ride, but at least it avoids the interstate.

Covered in TFA.

monstera: The biggest failure if our society is the lack if sidewalks. I DNRTFA but if my life lived 1.35miles from school, they couldn't walk to school because there are no farkin sidewalks.

My neighborhood doesn't have sidewalks. I used to walk my dog with no problems, but in the past few years, drivers here have gotten worse about speeding and coming close to pedestrians. I came within about six inches of being hit the night before last. Son of a biatch had his brights on and I was blinded and couldn't tell where he was. I ended up bailing into my neighbor's yard, and he was much closer than I had thought.

/this is the thread where we biatch about stuff, right?

Honest Bender: Have you considered taking a public bus to school?

You mean on the route that goes from her house to the school?

I can't believe the reporter missed that.

Walking a mile is bad? I'm glad I'm able to walk, and do a mile or two in the early mornings or late evenings just because it feels good.

bmihura: Walking a mile is bad? I'm glad I'm able to walk, and do a mile or two in the early mornings or late evenings just because it feels good.

Obviously you're NOT THINKING OF THE CHILDREN!!!!!

She should move to Florida. They bus kids distances measured in blocks. There are also bus stops less than 200 yards apart.

"That's, like... over a mile!"

Bad_Seed: The "dangerous intersection" has traffic lights. What's her problem?

Uh, she's a whiny biatch with what she thinks is a point to prove? No story here folks. Annoying lady gets upset because her precious snowflake has to follow the same rules that the rest of the entire school district follows, and annoying lady doesn't believe her kid has the intelligence to stand at a crosswalk and wait for the indicator that it's safe to walk. Not only are there lights, there are sidewalks and all in all it looks like a pretty nice intersection for pedestrians.

Nothing to see here folks, move along.

Bathia_Mapes: Sim Tree: Why can't the kid walk 0.65 miles in the opposite direction and board the bus at the 2 mile limit mark with whomever lives over that way? Sure, it's a walk plus a bus ride, but at least it avoids the interstate.

FTA: Bilotta also offered to have Madison walk a few blocks to the neighborhood behind hers, where busing is allowed, and was told she couldn't do that.


Nope. They shot her down on that as well.

That may be the rule, but I'm not sure how they would enforce it in practice. Perhaps they issue bus passes that the bus driver checks? I don't know how it works today but when I was a kid everyone at the bus stop just got on the bus.

saloman: She can't walk a half-mile away from the school (presumably a safer journey) to catch the bus?

I was thinking the same thing. In the article it stated she was three blocks away from the two mile mark. So why doesn't she walk those three blocks and get picked up at someone else's stop?

Jeez... much ado about nothing,

namegoeshere: saloman: She can't walk a half-mile away from the school (presumably a safer journey) to catch the bus?

Mom thought of that. The district said no.

Why did she bother to ask the district? She must be a drama queen.

buzzcut73: Honest Bender: Have you considered taking a public bus to school?

FTA, it seems the bus does not cross the interstate either. She'd have to ride one bus to a central transfer point, and then get on another bus that would drop her off somewhere near the school. Considering the types of folks that populate city buses and central transfer points, I'd be a bit leery of letting my 11 year old do that daily.

/Bus people are an interesting lot
//Was one until I moved to a different town with less transit options.

I see public school kids on the city buses around here all the time. It is a biatch when you have to take a bus at the wrong time and it is just packed with them.


saloman: That may be the rule, but I'm not sure how they would enforce it in practice. Perhaps they issue bus passes that the bus driver checks? I don't know how it works today but when I was a kid everyone at the bus stop just got on the bus.

Around here bus drivers have lists of the kids and they do enforce it.
Her best bet, if she wanted to break the rules, would be to change her official address to a friend's house that she can walk to. I know a people that gave the wrong address to get into another school and I assume the bussing would be the same. But I don't know what any penalties may be.

But if her biggest concern is an intersection with a traffic light, then if the Mother is too paranoid she can deal with it. not the city or schoolboard.

namegoeshere: My district has the distance rule, but they also have a dangerous road exception. Which is why my kids have the option to bus even though we live quite close to the school. No one on our street chooses to take the bus, but school schedules work out so that the youngest kids are able to walk with older, responsible kids. And yes, when it's arctic or pouring, I drive mine.

She should insist that the district provide crossing guards at the busy intersections.

Trolling, I hope. You're suggesting that an 11 yo cannot cross an intersection with a traffic light?

Jument: namegoeshere: My district has the distance rule, but they also have a dangerous road exception. Which is why my kids have the option to bus even though we live quite close to the school. No one on our street chooses to take the bus, but school schedules work out so that the youngest kids are able to walk with older, responsible kids. And yes, when it's arctic or pouring, I drive mine.

She should insist that the district provide crossing guards at the busy intersections.

Trolling, I hope. You're suggesting that an 11 yo cannot cross an intersection with a traffic light?

That was meant to be read with an eyeroll. My point was, if she's in a pissing contest with the district, and can find a way to insist on crossing guards, then the school would probably cave and offer the cheaper option, allowing her to walk to an established bus stop.

Looked at Google Maps. She could bke safely over to 56th and cross the interstate on an overpass. Sidewalks all the way. There are city streets running over/under the interstate in several spots.

No neighborhood kids want to carpool? No friends to walk with?

City bus?

I walked and rode a bike to all my schools until I turned 17. Crossing busy state highways at the light for elementary. Going under the interstate for HS. Gasp!

Bathia_Mapes: CasperImproved: namegoeshere: saloman: She can't walk a half-mile away from the school (presumably a safer journey) to catch the bus?

Mom thought of that. The district said no.

Why did she bother to ask the district? She must be a drama queen.

I don't know about this school district, but the school bus drivers in my area are given lists of the students assigned to their buses.

Thanks for your inputs... I did see that further on in the thread that it had already been addressed.

My new solution? Get a P.O. Box (or a neighbor's address in the correct zone) for a bus ride and official mail correspondence from the school. Then have her walk the three blocks.

Let me tell you sonny... let me set you straight
You kids today ain't never had it rough
Always had everything handed to you on a silver plate
You lazy brats think nothing's good enough

Well, nobody ever drove me to school when it was ninety degrees below
We had to walk butt naked through forty miles of snow
Worked in the coal mine twenty two hours a day for just half a cent
Had to sell my internal organs just to pay the rent

When I was your age. When I was your age
When I was your age. When I was your age

Let me tell you something, you whiny little snot
There's something wrong with all you kids today
You just don't appreciate all the things you've got
We were hungry, broke and miserable and we liked it fine that way

There were seventy three of us living in a cardboard box
All I got for Christmas was a lousy bag of rocks
Every night for dinner, we had a big 'ol chunk of dirt
If we were really good, we didn't get dessert

When I was your age. When I was your age
When I was your age. When I was your age

Didn't have no telephone, didn't have no FAX machine
All we had was a couple cans and a crummy piece of string
Didn't have no swimming pool when I was just a lad
Our neighbor's septic tank was the closest thing we had
Didn't have no dental floss, had to use old rusty nails
Didn't have Nintendo, we just poured salt on snails
Didn't have no water bed, had to sleep on broken glass
Didn't have no lawnmower, we used our teeth to cut the grass

What's the matter now, sonny, you say you don't believe this junk?
You think my story's wearin' kinda thin?
I tell you one thing, I never was such a disrespectful punk
Back in my time, we had a thing called discipline

My dad would whoop us every night till a quarter after twelve
Then he'd get too tired and he'd make us whoop ourselves
Then he'd chop me into pieces and play frisbee with my brain
And let me tell ya, Junior, you never heard me complain

When I was your age. When I was your age
When I was your age. When I was your age

No big story. In Illinois, my family's house was just inside the limit. The kids across the street rode the bus, we walked.

My family and I used to live on the opposite side of a the street from our kids' elementary school, separated by a unbusy two lane road. Even so, when school started/let out a local sheriff would stop by and hold what traffic there was for the buses.

The school still offered to bus our children. Was stunned by that one, never took them up on the offer.

When I lived around the Amish they would send their children on all kinds of chores as soon as they could walk. The oldest would lead the youngest, which sometimes would mean the five year old had the hand of the four year old. Including across the highway.

/No onions on their belts
//That was a mennonite joke

Has anyone asked yet if the kid could walk to the nearest bus stop 2 miles or more away from the school?

Jument: namegoeshere: My district has the distance rule, but they also have a dangerous road exception. Which is why my kids have the option to bus even though we live quite close to the school. No one on our street chooses to take the bus, but school schedules work out so that the youngest kids are able to walk with older, responsible kids. And yes, when it's arctic or pouring, I drive mine.

She should insist that the district provide crossing guards at the busy intersections.

Trolling, I hope. You're suggesting that an 11 yo cannot cross an intersection with a traffic light?

Kids 14-18 still get school zones. Kids that should know how to cross a street at crosswalks and stay out of the street. If you want to be Spartan about it, start with them first.

LoneWolf343: And the parents can't drive her because...

Know how I know you didn't read TFA?

Why do you people insist on polluting these threads?

Fark_Guy_Rob: The 'dangerous' road has traffic signals and an overpass. The distance she has to travel is less than 1.5 miles.

All of the other children living 1.5 miles away face the same dangerous from the elements. When it's too cold for school, public school shut down. They consider the safety of children when deciding when to shut down the school.

There is no reason for her kid to be bussed. None of the other kids in similar situations are.

Solutions that don't required interaction from the tax payers
1.) Teach your child to cross the street safely and invest in the same cold weather gear your child would need in the winter if she had to walk to a bus stop and wait in the cold.

2.) Arrange your child's transportation yourself. You know, drive your kid to school. Pay someone else to drive your kid to school. Arrange a car pool with other parents.

3.) Move/Consider your children's ability to get to school BEFORE deciding on a place to live. Real estate agents love that crap - and it's pretty easy to see where public schools are on maps. You didn't get assigned a place to live, you choose it. Choose it better.

Solution that requires the least amount of effort
1.) biatch about it until the busses go out of their way to get your snowflake.

Know how I know you didn't read TFA?

whyRpeoplesostupid: In MY day we crossed 8 lanes of interstate traffic in the dark and we smiled, and we liked it
[i196.photobucket.com image 600x399]

Liar. In your day there were no such things as interstates. Hell, in your day there were no such things as paved roads!

Ed Finnerty: FTFA: Under Iowa law, elementary and middle school students qualify to ride public school buses for free only if they live two or more miles from the school; for high school students, the rule is three miles.

You're biatching at the wrong people, lady. Take it up with your local government.

But hey, she got her 11-year-old daughter's picture, address, and route to school a lot of publicity, you've got to give her that.

Thats a good distance to become quite the young entrepreneur. Kid, you need to get yourself a wholesaler of bath salts, synthetic reefer, and a good line of glass bowls and bongs. By the looks of your mother I'm sure you could hire her on to keep shop while your polishing your skills for the future. Might even be able to get mom to turn a few tricks while your at school. Good Luck Kid!

You don't have to go to school to be a stripper.

So, the school won't let her drop the kid off at school before 7 or pick her up at 4, but they have no problem with her walking 2 miles each way?
Drop her off and pick her up a block away.

AssAsInAssassin: Fark_Guy_Rob: The 'dangerous' road has traffic signals and an overpass. The distance she has to travel is less than 1.5 miles.

All of the other children living 1.5 miles away face the same dangerous from the elements. When it's too cold for school, public school shut down. They consider the safety of children when deciding when to shut down the school.

There is no reason for her kid to be bussed. None of the other kids in similar situations are.

Solutions that don't required interaction from the tax payers
1.) Teach your child to cross the street safely and invest in the same cold weather gear your child would need in the winter if she had to walk to a bus stop and wait in the cold.

2.) Arrange your child's transportation yourself. You know, drive your kid to school. Pay someone else to drive your kid to school. Arrange a car pool with other parents.

3.) Move/Consider your children's ability to get to school BEFORE deciding on a place to live. Real estate agents love that crap - and it's pretty easy to see where public schools are on maps. You didn't get assigned a place to live, you choose it. Choose it better.

Solution that requires the least amount of effort
1.) biatch about it until the busses go out of their way to get your snowflake.

Know how I know you didn't read TFA?

Probably because your mistakenly making assumptions.

Not only did I read the article, I took the time to pull up Google Street view and look at the dangerous highway crossing. Not only does the street have sidewalks on both sides of the road; there are traffic lights to make crossing incredibly easy.

The distance rule is school policy. It's fine for everyone else, it's fine for this kid.
The 'danger' of that road is non-existent.

What exactly has led you to believe I haven't read the article. Are you disagreeing with anything I've actually said? Or are we just guessing random things about each other.

'Know how I know your favorite colour isn't red?!'

Okay, now you go.

FizixJunkee: Abner Doon: I wonder if she considered dropping Madison at the school just before her job starts at 7 a.m. and picking her up after she gets off at 4 p.m.

/ who needs editors

School won't allow it.

Our neighborhood school has a similar policy. There's a very tiny window in which you can drop off your kid in the mornings and an equally narrow window for picking him/her up. The school will NOT allow you to drop them off any earlier, even if they're playing outside and aren't inside the building.

So drop the kid off a block away, and tell the school the kid is walking. Problem solved.

JWideman: So, the school won't let her drop the kid off at school before 7 or pick her up at 4, but they have no problem with her walking 2 miles each way?
Drop her off and pick her up a block away.

The school won't allow her to wait on school property before 7 or after 3. If they did, they would have to provide supervision and be wide open to liability.

Everything I have seen makes it seem like the mother is just whining. "It is cold" of course it is, you live in Iowa, but kids are walking just as far in a lot colder places, get her a good coat, hat, and mitts. "It is far" boo hoo, it isn't excessively far and shouldn't be more than 30-45 minutes. "There is a busy road to cross" there is a farking traffic light.
If the girl had to cross the highway without a traffic light (say the nearest crossing point took her well over the District's two mile limit then there is a real safety concern and something should be done. But, by all appearances, that is not the case and if the mother wants special treatment she can arrange it and pay for it herself the taxpayers should not be footing the bill.

Options suggested thus far by school officials have included walking an alternative route to school that bypasses the busy 63rd Street/I-235 corridor; hopping a public bus near her home, transferring at the downtown hub and coming back up Grand Avenue; waiting until October to sign up Madison as a discretionary rider for a fee; or carpooling.

Jessica, there is another option.

The school district likely receives funding from the state to provide the buses. So, they have to follow the rules. But school districts are just like anyone else. They will bend the rules to suit their needs.

Here is a "hypothetical" situation. A parent has a child that attends a certain high school. Student has been denied access to bus service because they live within 2 miles of high school. Student is white and not financially disadvantaged. Fair enough.

The front door of the high school is located at N 32 45 44, W 096 38 08. School buses transporting students are observed loading and unloading high school age individuals at an apartment complex located at N 32 44 50, W 096 37 19. Trailing the bus indicates that said bus offloads same high school age individuals at said high school. Said apartment complex caters to "economically disadvantaged" families. Individuals board the bus are noted to be predominently black and hispanic. Calculated and measured distance from high school to apartment complex according to longitude/latitude is 1.3 miles.

High school age individuals are also observed boarding the same bus at N 32 44 54, W 096 37 02. Calculated distance to said high school from this stop is 1.43 miles. Again, the stop is in an area populated by economically disadvantaged families.

At this point, one must resort to simple extortion. The school district is in clear violation of state law/policies. But it is certainly an accident. Get with the officer with the local school district and helpfully offer to report this minor oversight, which has probably been going on for years, to the state for remedial action. Of course, this is going to fark up the really sweet deal that these economically disavantaged families have been enjoying for years.

It is amazing how pliable such rules can be. And how far a school official will go to cover their ass.

Des Moines area resident here.

-Public bus isn't a viable option for kids. Our public transit system is a complete joke, probably because our fuel prices are among the lowest in the country. But using MTA, it would probably take this kid 2 hours to get picked up, ride downtown to the only transfer station, then ride a different bus to within 1 mile of the school. Assuming there is a compatible route at all.

-Those intersections are very dangerous, especially during thunderstorms and in the winter. My biggest complaint about living here is that there are horrible, horrible drivers everywhere.

-If you think the website is bad, try the print version. I've seen higher quality newspapers from high schools. The local TV stations have much better news sites... never figured out why the Register gets all the links on Fark.

That said... yeah, it's on this woman if she can't find a way to flex her job schedule, work with other parents at that school for carpooling, etc. Not only does it eliminate sympathy, but giving an 11-year-old this kind of media exposure isn't going to do her kid any favors. To an adolescent, this will probably have the same amount of social damage as a defamation or sexual harassment lawsuit would to an adult.

lemortede: Once again we have someone who expects society to take care of her problems with her crotch fruit. Parent up and take care of your own mistakes.

Not sure whether I agree or diagree with your point but I lol'd at "crotch fruit."

//seriously LOL'D
///Will make sure to use "crotch fruit" in a sentence at least once a day.
//slashes away

sleep lack: 1.35 miles?
[earthfirst.com image 520x416]
/soooo screwed when the oil supply goes all 1973 again.

Wow. Just ........wow. SMH

monstera: The biggest failure if our society is the lack if sidewalks. I DNRTFA but if my life lived 1.35miles from school, they couldn't walk to school because there are no farkin sidewalks.

There are sidewalks on both sides of every street in my subdivision, and everybody walks in the street. They hold meetings at intersections. ???

Well it's no wonder the school system is being run without any thought for the girl's safety. After all, they lost their superintendent, remember? Link

dywed88: JWideman: So, the school won't let her drop the kid off at school before 7 or pick her up at 4, but they have no problem with her walking 2 miles each way?
Drop her off and pick her up a block away.

The school won't allow her to wait on school property before 7 or after 3. If they did, they would have to provide supervision and be wide open to liability.


What's your point? I repeat: Drop her off and pick her up a block away. I don't give a fark where she is in that time before and after school, and neither does the school apparently.

dywed88:
Her best bet, if she wanted to break the rules, would be to change her official address to a friend's house that she can walk to. I know a people that gave the wrong address to get into another school and I assume the bussing would be the same. But I don't know what any penalties may be.


Our neighborhood school verifies the address of every student at least twice during the school year. When you enroll, you have to submit current utility bills, copies of your lease (if you rent), etc. The school won't take your word for it. And the school will double-check a few months into the academic year to make sure you still live in the school boundaries.

DarkVader: FizixJunkee: Abner Doon: I wonder if she considered dropping Madison at the school just before her job starts at 7 a.m. and picking her up after she gets off at 4 p.m.

/ who needs editors

School won't allow it.

Our neighborhood school has a similar policy. There's a very tiny window in which you can drop off your kid in the mornings and an equally narrow window for picking him/her up. The school will NOT allow you to drop them off any earlier, even if they're playing outside and aren't inside the building.

So drop the kid off a block away, and tell the school the kid is walking. Problem solved.

They won't let your kid on school premises before that designated time. They won't let them just play on the playground until school starts, which is what we did when we were kids.

FizixJunkee: DarkVader: FizixJunkee: Abner Doon: I wonder if she considered dropping Madison at the school just before her job starts at 7 a.m. and picking her up after she gets off at 4 p.m.

/ who needs editors

School won't allow it.

Our neighborhood school has a similar policy. There's a very tiny window in which you can drop off your kid in the mornings and an equally narrow window for picking him/her up. The school will NOT allow you to drop them off any earlier, even if they're playing outside and aren't inside the building.

So drop the kid off a block away, and tell the school the kid is walking. Problem solved.

They won't let your kid on school premises before that designated time. They won't let them just play on the playground until school starts, which is what we did when we were kids.

FizixJunkee: DarkVader: FizixJunkee: Abner Doon: I wonder if she considered dropping Madison at the school just before her job starts at 7 a.m. and picking her up after she gets off at 4 p.m.

/ who needs editors

School won't allow it.

Our neighborhood school has a similar policy. There's a very tiny window in which you can drop off your kid in the mornings and an equally narrow window for picking him/her up. The school will NOT allow you to drop them off any earlier, even if they're playing outside and aren't inside the building.

So drop the kid off a block away, and tell the school the kid is walking. Problem solved.

They won't let your kid on school premises before that designated time. They won't let them just play on the playground until school starts, which is what we did when we were kids.

So, drop them off at a friend's house that lives close or who rides the bus or drop them off at 6:40 a block away from the school with a fraking iPod or DS. The problem is this lady can't think outside the box.