By Anonymous
Filed Sunday, March 5 at 9:51 PM
by Peter Downs
March 2, 2006 -- Nearly 80 people attended a meeting at Mullanphy School last night to discuss problems with student transportation and a longer school day. The meeting was arranged in response to complaints that a delegation of six parents from Wilkinson School took to the school board at its last regular meeting.
Parents complained about long waits for buses, missed drop-off times, and the inability to get through to anyone at the transportation department, or get straight answers if they did. They said that waiting for buses to bring children home 90 minutes to two hours after they were picked up from school was not uncommon. And when calling the transportation department, they could be put on hold for 30-45 minutes!
The parents also proposed several specific steps to correct the problems.
At 7:30, Mullanphy Principal Kenneth Branton interrupted the meeting with an announcement that underscored the problem. He said the last bus had left the school at 5:15. "I still have children on that bus and it's 7:30 p.m.," he said. "I've been in my office taking calls from parents. It's deplorable."
Transportation Supervisor insisted that she is doing the best she can "with a very skeleton staff." There are only five people in the district to oversee 421 bus routes carrying 16,000 children a day, she said.
"Nobody is perfect," she added.
If the problem is having adequate resources to provide good service to children and parents, then the people who needed to hear from parents are the school board members. Only one school board member was present at the meeting, however, and that was Bill Purdy. Four of the people running for school board attended the meeting, but neither of the incumbents running for reelection showed up.
In an email to parents after the meeting, Katie Wessling of St. Louis Parents for Kids said that Wilkinson PTO president Lori Baker will follow up with district administration to find out what they do in response to parent concerns.
Parents also raised concerns about the negative affects of extending the school day, which the school board had previously announced would be lengthened by 20 minutes next year. The school day was already lengthened by 18 minutes this year, which gives St. Louis children the longest school day in the area.
Ruth Mach, who supervises elementary school principals, said that Superintendent Williams shares some of the parents' concerns about keeping children in school longer. She said that she thinks the planned extension will be canceled.
Parents are circulating petitions against the longer day. Hundreds of signatures have already been turned in from parents at Wilkinson and Kennard, and organizers say they intend to keep the pressure on.
1 Comments:
That's because they were never invited... Nice Stunt, you filthy Liar.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006 9:07:00 AM
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