(no subject)

[randomness]

Do they let second graders walk over a mile alone to and from school nowadays?

I just Googled my walk to school in first and second grade. 1.1 miles through suburban subdivisions. (I don't remember walking to or from kindergarten.)

Comments

[sarakate.livejournal.com]

Our school district will provide transportation to all students, upon request, regardless of distance to the school. We're across the street from Amy's elementary, actually the closest house to it, but if I wanted, I could have her ride a bus -- although she'd have to walk further than the distance to the school, in the opposite direction, to where they'd put the bus stop. :) When Rob attended the same elementary and we lived a few blocks away from our present house, though, he was picked up by bus, and it was only just over a half mile by street.

As a practical matter, they don't route a bus to pick up a particular student unless that student has requested it, and in fact none of the dozen or so elementary-aged kids who live in the small subdivision we're at the mouth of have requested it, so no bus comes down our street. All the kids in here walk, or are driven by a parent who's on the way to work. Most kids who walk are walked to school by a parent, but some of the older ones go solo, and sometimes I let Amy (who was in kindergarten this year) walk with Rob (whose school starts later, so he's still home when she leaves) or walk by herself since I can see her the whole time from my back porch.

In the afternoon, kindergarten students have to be collected by somebody, and those who walk are dismissed separately, first, before the older kids. Kids older than kindergarten can walk or bike solo (although a lot of them, especially the 1st and 2nd graders, seem to be collected by parents), and they're the second dismissal from the classrooms, before the kids who are being picked up by cars are dismissed to the front-porch car line or the bus kids are dismissed to the bus lines, which gives them a chance to clear the vicinity before the traffic starts moving. We also have temporary stop signs that are rolled out by the crosswalk each morning and afternoon, and a crossing guard on duty there, and another at the intersection between the small street the school's on and the nearest big street.

Part of the equation might be that Texas law won't let you leave a kid younger than 8 in a home alone. So for the kids younger than 3rd grade, a parent or other caregiver has to be available, and if you're available, you might as well walk over and meet the kid.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Texas law won't let you leave a kid younger than 8 in a home alone.

Yeah, my parents would have violated that law for nearly two years. Well, assuming they got away with it for that long.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

My parents didn't, but often my twin and I and my older brother were alone together....(he is 3 years older).