Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The Bus Doesn't Stop Here

Alrighty, enough about local government politics for a while...well at least for today.

I've more-or-less left the school district alone on this blog. There is a new guy in charge, and first reports seem to indicate that he is sensible and competent. I hope that trend continues for a while.

While Mr Atwater is still beginning to make his way, there are some hold-over central office administrators that continue to make decisions that defy common sense and just might reflect a hostile attitude toward employees. One decision prohibits the children of teachers from using a school as a bus stop. The situation occurs mostly at Middle and High Schools. Starting times in those places are a bit earlier than at elementary schools, so buses are able to make two trips - the earlier one takes the older kids to school and then the buses leave those schools and begin their next rounds which takes the little kids to elementary schools. If a teacher takes their elementary-aged kid to the high school with them in the morning (as opposed to leaving the kids home alone and responsible for getting to the neighborhood bus stop on their own), they are not allowed to put their kids on those now empty buses at the middle/high schools. The parents must drive their kids to the next stop, where those same buses that have just left the school where the parent teaches, can now can pick up the kid. This silly rule is inconvenient and just takes away from a teacher's valuable time getting prepped for a class, working individually with a student, or maybe having that last chance for a couple of hours of using the bathroom.

I mean what is the point? Is the district afraid of showing teachers any favoritism? So what would it really matter if the kid could just get on the bus? Is there anyone in the community who would actually complain about this?

By now most of you have read about the 6-year-old cub scout in Delaware that was given a 45 day suspension that was to be served in a reform school because he brought his new and nifty eating utensil that included a spork and a small knife to school. The same district suspended another little-bitty when her aunt sent a birthday cake to school that also included a knife for cutting it. The kid promptly gave the cake and knife to the teacher, who then used the knife to cut the cake, but then reported it to the principal, who said the district's policy required suspension without discretion.

It's just an illustration of how those who are more interested in being the bureaucrat-in-charge make senseless rules that, at best, lack common sense, and at worse, are just mean and vindictive.

I hope to hear from school district employees about other such policies here on the Kenai.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should maybe just call and inquire about the reason for the policy.

Posting a bunch of your own unanswered and unsought after questions isn't too compelling on it's own.

Well, all you've done is put forth a number of unsupported assertions and suppostitions.

Some simple legwork on your part could have cleared up your 'questions', no?

If you have a question about policy, call the district, call Atwater, don't just whinge about something you have no basis to whinge about without first checking.

It's my bet that the district has some reasoning behind the policy.

You didn't even bother to check to see what that might be.

You'd rather trade in conjecture and construct this 'imagined' outrage.

Or, to be more descriptive,

'ambulance chasing',

the lazy blogger way.

Ask first, then if the reasoning is unsound for some reason, then you might have something to report.

As it is, your idle presuppositions aren't as compelling as you may imagine.

Souldotna said...

Do you play poker? If so, I'd love to be in a game with you. You bluff when you can't even pretend that you have something to back up what you are betting on.

Those inquiries have been made. The person who made the decision is a hold-over from the previous administration and the responses have been just what they were under Donna P's tenure: It's the way we are doing things, end of discussion.

But maybe that will no longer be the attitude of the new superintendent.

Sometimes is takes a bit of public humiliation for some folks to see the idiocy of their decisions. I've not mentioned the name of the person who has made this decision - for now anyway - but that might change soon.

Anonymous said...

Poker? Bluffing?

Are you just daft?

As I said call the district, "call Atwater", I said.

You didn't do that.

And it's quite evident you've still not done that.

(oh, and the poker thing?

to play poker, you have to actually commit to performing a definitive and decisive act.

I don't see wanting to sit at a table across from you while you bloviated about what you might do, or maybe it's what you might not do, but then, maybe it's to be some action you might take some time 'soon', or maybe it'll be at some time in some indefinite 'future'....)


Just call Atwater.

Souldotna said...

Hmmm...Let's follow your original post and your wild and unsubstantiated claims about the veracity of the original posting and your unsubstantiated claim that the district has some reasoning behind their position. My response was that you had nothing but your suppositions. And you don't. And now you say I am daft? Righhhhhht!

One of this blog's purposes is to expose the bone-head things those in power do. The school bus issue is not one that has to do with my life, but it is an example of, on a small scale, an abuse of power.

As for the people that it does directly concern, they have followed the prescribed chain of command to bring their issue to a sane resolution. To do otherwise has been considered insubordination by the KPBSD. People get in trouble for that. SOL just hopes to speed the process up and point out to the community that some administrators in the district continue to think, like you, that things should just be the way they deem them to be.

And they are as full of it as you are.

Anonymous said...

in the end, you never called Atwater and still haven't.

Anonymous said...

how's that 'speeding the process' going anyway?

Have you called Atwater yet?

Have you bothered to follow up on your sensationalism??

Souldotna said...

Yours truly - Souldotna. Able to solve everyone's problem with a single blog.

I'm no ombudsman, just a blogger. Much more fun to write about it. People should solve their own problems. And the folks involved in the process are following the protocol set out for them. The wheels of justice might get some traction...we sahll see.


Large Visitor Globe