On an up note

2010-04-02T05:13:00.001-07:00

I had fun for the past 2 days going to Juliana's school and reading books to her class for the Read Across America program. I totally recommend it!

I read books about frogs, a cat, a crocodile, a ladybug girl, a giraffe, tadpoles, and going on a bear hunt.

On Incompetent van drivers

2010-04-02T05:04:00.002-07:00

This is an article which I may write updates to, depending upon how mad I get at the stupidity of some contracted drivers of special needs students. Some children get rides to school arranged by their school districts in big yellow school buses, little yellow school buses, minivans, regular cars, and special transport vans. Remember, I'm talking now about the special needs students. We choose to drive our daughter ourselves, as she does not speak, and could not tell us if something bad happened. Plus, I don't trust the driving talents of these people. They don't follow the correct driving rules. They don't stop at railroad crossings. They speed. They go through red lights. They improperly pass other vehicles. And, they smoke sometimes in the van with the children. Okay, not all of them do, but some of them do. And, that's enough for me.

There's supposed to be an aid in addition to the driver, but still I don't know these people. Why should I trust them with my daughter? Not all contracted drivers are school district drivers. Here's what happens in our school district. Since there are so few children in the district who go out of district for their education, the cost of using a district provided bus is not justified. So, instead, transportation companies put bids in at the beginning of the school year, and at the beginning of the summer session. I believe that the lowest bids are the ones that are considered. So, each year, we decline. I even once called our transportation department, and told the woman that I just don't trust the drivers. She told me that she understood. She said that these types of jobs are low paying. You'd think that driving children would be a little more important than that.

Well, there I was driving down the road past the exit to my daughter's school. And, what do I see? One of those special transport vans with the passenger side sliding door wide open. There were children inside the van, and the driver was departing the school. Yes, he was driving with the side door wide open. He finally realized it. Jumped out of the van, and closed the door. I did not see an aid in the van with him. If there was an aid, why didn't they close the door? This is the van that my daughter would have been assigned to.

And, then there was the time when yet another special transport van departed the school. It was summer. The passenger side window opened up, and a cloud of smoke came out of the van. There were children in the van. This was after picking the children up to bring them home. Well, we just happened to be following behind this van. And, at the traffic light, it got beside us, and we saw that the person in the passenger seat was smoking. At this point, the windows were all closed. Not that it would have mattered if the windows were open. It does not make it anymore right for someone to smoke in a special needs transport van with or without the window open.

People who drive school buses, and people who drive student transport vehicles with the special license plates must stop at railroad crossings. With or without having student passengers. I have lost count as to how many violations of this law we have seen. And, never mind all the traffic lights which have been run, and right turns on red without stopping which have been made.

The only reason we see these things is because we drive our daughter to school. There are actually 2 special schools in the area. So, we see the stupid things that drivers to the other school do, too. And, we've also heard stories from other parents who see how horribly these van drivers are on the highway. Taking chances with the children, speeding, passing inappropriately.

This is not to say that there aren't any safe drivers. There are some that obey the law. And, there are bunches that are nice people. They smile, wave, say hi, and talk to you. But, you don't get to pick who your driver will be.

Well, this would be an update, but I haven't posted the article yet. We saw a special needs minivan illegally pass a car on a one lane road. Then they sailed across the railroad tracks without even stopping, before turning left into the school parking lot. This was in the morning, during drop off, so there were children in that van.

On Juliana

2010-04-02T05:04:00.001-07:00

Juliana is a cutie! I had to make the first post about her.

Juliana's Page

On an up note

On Incompetent van drivers

On Juliana