Today we finally got all that rain they've been promising us—and then some. Unfortunately, tonight was supposed to be the back-to-school picnic, so that'll be postponed a week. Julie, always a true Pollyanna, remarked as we walked home from school under our umbrellas, "Well, at least it's a great day for the plants!"
Speaking of which, we have an easy walk of just over a quarter-mile, and we even live on the same side of the street as the school, so we just have to cross a few side streets. Pretty much the only time we drive is when the sidewalks are impassable, which happens sometimes during the winter when the sidewalk plow doesn't come in time and the snowbanks freeze over.
Any kid who lives more than 1 mile from school can ride the bus—I think they have to pay for it, though. Many parents still drive their kids to school every day, some for legitimate reasons (e.g., they have to scramble to get another kid to daycare across town and then make it to work on time, someone in the family is on crutches) and some just because they or their kids are lazy or always late. I've seen people who live closer to the school than I do driving every single day!
The school and the PTO are always trying to encourage more people to walk—for the exercise and camaraderie and to cut down on traffic in general. On the first day of school this year, anyone who walked to school got a shiny little backpack tag. (Bus kids could jog around the school twice to earn a tag.) But you know what? Nothing will change. Lazy people are lazy. The same people who drive to school every day are also the ones who don't read the school notices to find out about initiatives like this anyhow. Sigh.
Maybe instead of people paying for schoolbus service, walkers over a certain distance would get rebates or some non-monetary other type of credit. Naah, that's just complicating a simple issue.
In massive Fairfax Co. schools here, the bus fleet is colossal. I have a good friend who's a driver, and she tells me some appallingly trivial uses for buses, like transporting middle school athletes about 1000 yards to practice on a high school field nearby (or vice versa). Frankly, I don't think athletics merits that level of waste. People need some perspective.
And if people are too lazy or busy to walk what, 5, 10, 15 minutes to school?, then that's out of whack, too.
You've gotten my dander up, and right near bedtime. You bad.
Posted by: mommyralf | September 13, 2007 at 10:20 PM