The older students get, the more freedom they desire. But all too often, such leeway can compromise safety, precisely the concern of parents in central Wisconsin last week.
The Wasau Daily Herald wrote about several junior high students, about 20 in all according to parents, who were exiting their school buses early so they could walk to school. It seems the bus would first stop at the local middle school before proceeding on to its final destination, the high school campus, so the students would get off the bus at student stops along the way and then walk the final six blocks to their campus. According to one parent, the walk saved the kids 10 to 15 minutes.
But kids being kids, I suspect it was not so much their desire to not be late to school as it was that they wanted to be spared the embarrassment of their friends seeing them get off the yellow bus.
What really ruffled parental feathers was that bus drivers weren’t stopping their kids from leaving bus early and unattended. The six-block walk is along a secluded, wooded area where “anything could be lurking back there, from bears to sexual predators,” said one parent. Over-active imaginations could be at play, but certainly dangers could exist for children outside the bus, especially along unsafe walking routes, whether real or potential.
What is your school district’s policy for keeping kids from early school bus exits?
