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Confusion Over Afternoon Buses At Ernest Ward Middle School
August 25, 2009
There was a little confusion Monday afternoon when some students headed to the buses at Ernest Ward Middle School.
There are 36 buses running the routes in North Escambia for middle and high school students, according to Ernest Ward Principal Nancy Gindl-Perry. All middle and high school students are transported together to Northview High School. That’s where many of the students transfer to one of 13 “shuttle” buses that run from Northview to Ernest Ward.
And that’s where the confusion came in Monday afternoon, Perry said. Many students that transfer to a morning shuttle bus did not know if they should ride the bus with the shuttle number or the bus the bus that picked them up early in the morning.
Perry said that, in the afternoons, EWMS students should board the bus number that picks them up in the mornings, not the shuttle bus number. Ernest Ward students do not ride a shuttle bus in the afternoon.
Comments
13 Responses to “Confusion Over Afternoon Buses At Ernest Ward Middle School”
they need to do something about the seats on the bus. Some buses hve 55 some have like ten. I don’t think that is right. We have to sit three to a seat and you know how big those highschoolers can get. We just don’t fit anymore.
This is in regards to new school moms comment. The school staff was correct in encouraging you to allow your child to ride the bus. We have excellent bus drivers for our schools. They are very capable and responsible for our children, often going out of the way to ensure their safety. The issue is not the people that are driving our children it is the district transportation who have made decisions that resulted in overcrowding their routes. Even with this problem, these drivers, in my opinion, are doing everything they can to assure the safety of our children to and from school. It is the school district that needs to be reprimanded and held accountable in ensuring our children have enough space to ride safely by adding more buses. I commend our drivers for taking extra precautions with our children in this time of consolidation and overcrowding. Hopefully the transportation department will wake up and realize we desperately need more buses assigned to handle this issue as it is extremely dangerous for both the drivers and our kids.
REGARDING:
“They have emphasized how the bus driver watches them very well. HOW??? He’s 4 for christ sakes. Thanks for the info everyone!”
Based on the age you cite, I assume he is pre K. If so, I also assume there will be a teacher or aid on the bus with him.
Nothing in life is really safe because at the end of it, we all are dead but buses tend to be safer than personal transportation. According to the director of transportation, about 20 children are killed each year in buses in the entire nation. Several thousand are killed in personally operated vehicles.
Aside from death, though, there is also the danger of bullies causing misery and injury.
Drivers tend to keep the smallest children close to them.
It’s very interesting to hear the information regarding our bus system. I am new at all of the school stuff. This is my childs first year of school and I have been encouraged by school staff to let my child ride the bus. They have emphasized how the bus driver watches them very well. HOW??? He’s 4 for christ sakes. Thanks for the info everyone!
Im a middle schooler at EWMS and my bus ride is absolutly horrible!! This is the worst i have ever seen a bus over crowed with people. I can barely breath on my bus. Kids are nearly having to stand up because there is no room!
Something has got to change soon!!! I beleive that high schoolers should ride a high school bus and the middle schoolers should ride a middle school bus. We need to be seperated. I can already see some problems with people on our bus.
This is an accident waiting to happen, for sure! I will not be able to handle this very long. Three people sitting in a seat is terrible, espeically when the bus driver cant see the back window because of kids legs in the aisle because we are to squished.
I can not belive that people have to stand up also, because there is no room.
This is just unreal and its pretty bad when someone like me gets on here and tells her opinion!
Good luck to me :/
We all pay taxes too. Why should our children ride an overcrowed bus for over a hour and a half. That’s absolutely uncalled for. I believe the Department of Education, and the Department of Transportation, in Tallahassee needs to be aware of some of the problems that are accuring with our school system transportation.
There should not be one day of over crowded buses, how many of you have driven down Hwy 29 when the traffic is flowing slowly?
Yes, I realize the kinks need to be ironed out, but not when my child’s life might be in danger because of poor planning by people that only look at how much money it’s saving, I have a problem.
I graduated the first year Northview was open. We too had to get on one bus at Northview, then switch buses at EW. It can be very confusing esp when there’s bad weather. But all worked out fine, we all got home! Just takes some getting used to.
No, not all high school kids bully middle schoolers. I rode a bus that was middle & high school kids for 7 years (6th – 12th grade). Alot has to do with how the kids are raised and what their parents have allowed them to get away with.
Yes buses are crowded, there were times we had to sit 4 to a seat. At least now there’s not bookbags that take up even more room!
The more positive us parents can be, the better it will be for the kids. They pick up on OUR attitudes & actions. Maybe everyone should go back to teaching their kids to “treat others as they would like to be treated themselves”. We as parents are setting the example for them. And weather the kids admit it or not, how we do & what we say has a major impact on how they will do too.
It’s all a major change, but it will all work out just as it did when EWHS and CHS combined.
Everything will be ok if the parents will just let the system work. We also have grand childern in middle and high school that ride the same bus and I think its works just fine.
in reply to the comments from NOTFAIR… how do you know the bus drivers do not watch what is going on behind them, nor do they care… have you ever driven a school bus in traffic, loaded with 65 kids? probably not…. bus drivers have to drive the routes, watch out for traffic, and make the designated stops at the designated times… they cannot ALWAYS be watching the children the entire time..if they are having to spend all of their time watching the children, how in the world are they supposed to watch the road. Parents need to stress to their children the importance of obeying the bus rules and that would probably cut down on alot of discipline problems on our school buses… also my daughter also rode with the high school students with she went to EWMS..and there never was a problem..the driver kept the children separate,, high school sat in the back, and middle school in the front…simple as that!
I don’t care for our middle school children being brought to Northview either however There is also another concern that needs to be looked into. I realize there is a huge deficit in funds and bus routes/buses were consildated as well as our schools but this morning my daughter did not even have a place to sit on her bus it was so overcrowded with 3 already to a seat, the bus driver had to pull off the road to try and make room. This is ridiculous and extremely dangerous. What is going to be done to handle this situation?
To notfair: My niece and nephew rode the bus with high school when they were at EWMS and no one bullied them. Now they’re in high school and know not to bully other people so I disagree with your comment, “we all know what kind of bully high school kids can be.” True, you are not responsible how someone else child may behave, but you are responsible how your child behaves. Just pray that everyone will get along and for our children!
I don’t like the shuttle bus. It’s confusing and no fun to get off the bus at northview.
First of all, I have a BIG problem putting Middle School students with High School students anyway. This is a disaster waiting to happen!!!
We all know what kind of bully high school kids can be, and they get that perfect chance to act it out with the middle school students.
Bus drivers DO NOT watch the kids as we all know, nor do most of them care what is going on behind them.
It bothers me to NO end that this is happening knowing what is going to happen on those busses.