| Dan Soschin |
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| April 30, 2009 at 08:06 AM |
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Reply with quote | #1 |
Dear Alumni:
The PTSA is circulating a petition to oppose depot busing which the county proposes. Depot busing means that most students would be dropped off at a location no longer in walking distance from their home, such as their base school. This dramatically disrupts working families... among creating other issues for students... here's the note from the PTSA:
We would be grateful if you could forward the following link about the FCPS proposal to eliminate afternoon neighborhood busing for TJ kids. It would be very detrimental to TJ families to have this option eliminated - plus I believe we are the only high school in the county where this is proposed. So many dual working families would be adversely affected - I hope you might be able to support this e petition
Link: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/TJneighborhoodbusing
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| Chris Rivera |
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| April 30, 2009 at 05:31 PM |
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Reply with quote | #2 |
Having lived in Loudoun County when I attended TJ, the only option we had was depot busing. TJ has many pressing needs that require more money from the county, but this has to fall further down the list than most of those. Those of us from out of county managed fine; I'm sure the people of Fairfax County are just as capable. Sorry, but no signature from me. |
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| Mark D. Otley |
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Reply with quote | #3 |
But what is depot busing? Your post describes what you think are the detrimental effects of it, but I don't have a clue about it.
For example, what does "a location no longer in walking distance from their home" mean? No longer than what? |
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| Dan Soschin | |
| Sarah Cosby McGiverin |
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Reply with quote | #5 |
I'm with Chris here - while the description the PTSA offers says that "...Loudoun... plan[s] to maintain bus service to TJ," what this meant when I was going to TJ was depot busing. So this misleading memo masks the fact that Fairfax is not proposing to cut service below that which Loudoun (and presumably some of these other jurisdictions) already provides. And yeah, it was a hardship, but we managed. If the "more privileged" parents are really that concerned about the "less privileged" ones, then perhaps some ride sharing is in order. There has always been the perception that TJ as a whole gets (and expects) special treatment from -- well, everyone. It seems that this unwillingness to take on a share of Fairfax County budget cuts would not look good. It sounds to me less like an injustice than a minor inconvenience that could be alleviated by simple car pooling.
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| Dan Soschin |
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Reply with quote | #6 |
I'd like to understand this a bit more... Shouldn't TJ students be entitled to the same services provided to the other 150,000 students in Fairfax County: bus service from their neighbor to their school? How is providing bus service to TJ students being preferential? TJ's funding shortfall in 2009 alone is $750,000.00... so I commend those alumni and parents who have donated valuable resources over the years to reduce this funding gap. Without those donations, TJ would certainly not be able to maintain it's #1 ranking. And to those students that need to wake up 30 minutes earlier and get home 30 minutes later because of depot busing - keep up the good work - it will pay off! |
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| Nora Callahan |
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Reply with quote | #7 |
Excerpt from today's PTSA email:
Congratulations to everyone who participated in opposing depot busing for next year at TJ!
As many of you have heard, the School Board voted last Thursday to restore afternoon busing to the neighborhoods for TJ. We had over 1100 signatures on our petition! Thank you to the many people who wrote comments, sent letters, or spoke at the School Board meeting. This was truly a group effort and is real testimony to the enthusiastic spirit and powerful support of our school community. |
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