The North Hills school district school board sucks
If you have school-age children and are considering moving anywhere that puts your kid going to school here, don't.
Several years ago, the school board, in it's reelection-driven wisdom, decided it was to expensive to operate all the neighborhoods school that are a selling factor for the homeowners. And decided to shut half them down and renovate the remaining elementaries into megaschools. The "plans" surrounding that involved a complete lack of any logical thought or actual planning, the result of which is that my children, instead of attending the megaschool one mile from their house, are attending the megaschool five miles from their house. But hey, as long as they don't raise our taxes, right?
At the end of last school year, an email went around from a concerned parent that the district did not plan on having nurses in any elementary school full-time. So at the kindie orientation I made sure to ask the nurse what was going on with that, as my older child is asthmatic. Where I was reassured that only during lunch periods is the nurse's office unattended, but that the school secretary has a key. We told the kid he's not to have any asthma attacks during lunch. But hey, as long as they don't raise our taxes, right?
Fast forward to Tuesday, the first day of school. We have a new bus route with a new bus driver, and a crossing guard. Kids get off to school fine. All the moms and some of the grandparents show up to meet the kids at the bus stop after school. And we stood and waited in the 90 degree sunshine. And waited. And then our former bus driver drove by, and hollered out her window that the buses just got a late start and were on their way. Ok. Fifteens minutes go by. I call the school. The secretary assures me that the buses are just running late, and that they haven't heard anything else. Our former bus driver circles back at the end of her route, sees us all standing there, and radios the transportation company. (See, that nice crossing guard doesn't have a walkie talkie, cell phone, any sort of device where he could communicate with any authority.) And she then hollers out her window that our children's bus has broken down, but she doesn't know where.
And as this is the first day of a new bus route, none of us have any idea where our children may be, on a hot, broken-down bus, now a full hour after school was dismissed. Our children finally arrived at their stop ten minutes to five. A full forty five minutes after they are supposed to be there. Eventually, all the homes receive calls from the school notifying us that the steering on the bus had broken, but the children were all home safely.
And then one of the older students on the bus informs us all that the bus driver had made a wrong turn upon leaving the school, and had taken the kids on a nice little scenic tour of Ross township business districts before the bus breaking down. So the next morning one of the other mothers decided to follow the bus to school, and watched the bus driver run a red light. But hey, as long as they don't raise our taxes, right?
And finally, apparently there is not an adequate staff of cafeteria workers, at least for the kindergarten lunch period. The older kids are fine, I'm sure. They're used to how it works. They can open their own milk cartons. Something went on during lunch on Tuesday, when my little one bought lunch. He's not willing to do that again. And when he packed yesterday, he drank the juice box and after the rice krispie treat. The yogurt and baby carrots and fruit roll up came home. I sent a note in to his teacher asking if she had any info, but she knows nothing and he won't talk to her about it either. But hey, as long as they don't raise our taxes, right?
Somehow in here, I'm supposed to be instilling a love of learning in a child who, this morning, insisted he likes absolutely nothing about school and just wants to stay home with me. A child who, on the first day, went to school without crying, and said he liked the playing, just not the learning.
And hey, you know what, they raised our taxes.
Several years ago, the school board, in it's reelection-driven wisdom, decided it was to expensive to operate all the neighborhoods school that are a selling factor for the homeowners. And decided to shut half them down and renovate the remaining elementaries into megaschools. The "plans" surrounding that involved a complete lack of any logical thought or actual planning, the result of which is that my children, instead of attending the megaschool one mile from their house, are attending the megaschool five miles from their house. But hey, as long as they don't raise our taxes, right?
At the end of last school year, an email went around from a concerned parent that the district did not plan on having nurses in any elementary school full-time. So at the kindie orientation I made sure to ask the nurse what was going on with that, as my older child is asthmatic. Where I was reassured that only during lunch periods is the nurse's office unattended, but that the school secretary has a key. We told the kid he's not to have any asthma attacks during lunch. But hey, as long as they don't raise our taxes, right?
Fast forward to Tuesday, the first day of school. We have a new bus route with a new bus driver, and a crossing guard. Kids get off to school fine. All the moms and some of the grandparents show up to meet the kids at the bus stop after school. And we stood and waited in the 90 degree sunshine. And waited. And then our former bus driver drove by, and hollered out her window that the buses just got a late start and were on their way. Ok. Fifteens minutes go by. I call the school. The secretary assures me that the buses are just running late, and that they haven't heard anything else. Our former bus driver circles back at the end of her route, sees us all standing there, and radios the transportation company. (See, that nice crossing guard doesn't have a walkie talkie, cell phone, any sort of device where he could communicate with any authority.) And she then hollers out her window that our children's bus has broken down, but she doesn't know where.
And as this is the first day of a new bus route, none of us have any idea where our children may be, on a hot, broken-down bus, now a full hour after school was dismissed. Our children finally arrived at their stop ten minutes to five. A full forty five minutes after they are supposed to be there. Eventually, all the homes receive calls from the school notifying us that the steering on the bus had broken, but the children were all home safely.
And then one of the older students on the bus informs us all that the bus driver had made a wrong turn upon leaving the school, and had taken the kids on a nice little scenic tour of Ross township business districts before the bus breaking down. So the next morning one of the other mothers decided to follow the bus to school, and watched the bus driver run a red light. But hey, as long as they don't raise our taxes, right?
And finally, apparently there is not an adequate staff of cafeteria workers, at least for the kindergarten lunch period. The older kids are fine, I'm sure. They're used to how it works. They can open their own milk cartons. Something went on during lunch on Tuesday, when my little one bought lunch. He's not willing to do that again. And when he packed yesterday, he drank the juice box and after the rice krispie treat. The yogurt and baby carrots and fruit roll up came home. I sent a note in to his teacher asking if she had any info, but she knows nothing and he won't talk to her about it either. But hey, as long as they don't raise our taxes, right?
Somehow in here, I'm supposed to be instilling a love of learning in a child who, this morning, insisted he likes absolutely nothing about school and just wants to stay home with me. A child who, on the first day, went to school without crying, and said he liked the playing, just not the learning.
And hey, you know what, they raised our taxes.
Labels: education, elementary school, North Hills school district
posted by Momma Star at 9:43 AM
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