Submitted by Jennifer Andrews
This morning (Tuesday) in our household, as in many GPS family homes, we had a little chuckle over whether or not we thought the buses would come. This bet has been placed more times than I’d like to count, and it’s not funny any more.
Yes, the roads were bad, and digging out is tough. That is why there was no school yesterday, and why there was a 2 hour delay today. So that the buses could get themselves sorted.
Instead, after waiting 10 minutes, there was a text saying buses were running late. That’s it.
The buses never came.
While our children are standing out in the middle of the road because the sidewalks are covered in snow. It’s 10 degrees out. Parents scrambling to drive their children if possible. Some may have employers that are flexible and ok with the parents taking an hour out of their work day to drive the child to school. Many are not so lucky. This occurrence is bordering on more than you can count on two hands.
That many times parents have to leave work for an hour. That many times children miss the start of school because they have no way to get there.
Why, in a town like Greenwich, can we not afford a bus contract with a company that can actually function? That can alert the community of the exact timing, how late a bus will be, where it is currently on the route, etc? Surely in this day and age the bus company has a tracking system.
Why, in a town like Greenwich, can we not afford a contract with a bus company that actually has places for their buses to park, places for their employees to have breaks and use the facilities? Currently we are piecemealing a plan together. Some buses are parked at a local church for $10,000 per month, while others are parked on school property. The BOE is battling the state of CT to allow them to park buses under an over pass for a $1 per year fee, but have been denied so far. A trailer would be placed for drivers to take breaks in. Under the highway.
This situation is unacceptable. I urge the BOE, Toni Jones and the BET to work together and find money in the budget to fix one of the biggest issues facing our school district. The safe transportation of our children to school.
It doesn’t seem that big of an ask.
Jennifer Andrews, GHS parent and D6 RTM Member. The opinions expressed are my own