Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Who needs school buses when you have shopping carts?

When I discovered this morning that we have no bus service to our public school, I wrote this nasty missive to the New Rochelle school superintendent. Who's with me? Who wants to march on City Hall and throw turnips at anyone who happens to hove into view?

Yes, yes, we own a car. But that isn't the point. My real question: WHAT WILL THE PEOPLE IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD WHO STEAL ALL THE SHOPPING CARTS DO? Try telling me THEY have cars. Eh?! (Maybe the carts could be used for transporting the wee nippers to school. I can see it now...a wagon train of carts, all rolling south...to the sea, toward education, toward the future. Glory! Plus, plenty of room for backpacks and snacks and a sleeping infant sibling, too.)

Dear Superintendent Organisciak,

We are fairly new residents to New Rochelle and my son will be entering Trinity Elementary as a kindergartner next year. While speaking with the school secretary, I have just been informed that because we live within 1 1/2 miles of the school, there is no bus service. I find this outrageous and reprehensible, not only for myself but for the other young children in my neighborhood.

The secretary suggested that it was "the parents' role to come up with a plan" and that we could "drive or walk." Of course, now I understand the extreme traffic snarls on Pelham Avenue at school openings and closings. Driving past there around 3:30 is a nerve-wracking experience. Is this really a reasonable plan for our public elementary schools?

And, how do you know we even own a car? Does everyone? Is ownership of a car now a prerequisite for enrolling in public school? Do you imagine I will send my four-year-old alone on a city bus, if one even stops outside the school? Do you feel confident that my work schedule allows me to ride on those buses twice a day, back and forth?

As for walking, that's a patently ludicrous notion when I'm sure we come in just under the wire at about 1.4 miles from the school.

I would like to hear back from you as to how New Rochelle schools are "meeting our highest hopes and expectations" when even getting to the school building is an onerous burden, particularly for low-income, working parents. I can only hope that change is in the works for this situation.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this part:

"...particularly for low-income, working parents."

I like how you snuck that little jewel in there. I had visions of Norma Rae writing on scraps of paper with a bare lightbulb hanging over her head while surrounded by walls of peeling paint.

Seriously though, this is an outrage. You pay just as much in taxes as the other families who get bus service.

They could at least have the decency of hiding behind environmentalism and make it sound like they're encouraging people to bike or walk....

In reality, of course, it's less environmentally-friendly to ask people to drive separately.

That principal deserves a big fat "yule log" this holiday—and I mean the flushable kind.

Big D said...

Jenny Phresh!
Yes, still planning on heading to LA, although it may be later than sooner. Still want to go visit first, which I plan to do around New Years. May set head to SF first and work my way down once I've acquired a car and a place to stay...SF is much easier to itinerate into...

Anonymous said...

Here's how I would write it:

Yo Organisciak,

I got your organisciak right here, you pathetic excuse for an educator.

WTF, dude?

What's my problem you ask? How about your decision to punish people whose crime was TO LIVE CLOSE TO YOUR SCHOOL.

That's right. We don't get to put our kids on buses because... because... because.... I can't even begin to understand the rationale you concocted underneath that comb-over of yours.

Do me a favor, Mr. Sansabelt. Re-think this one. I know it's hard to do the right thing when there are no KICKBACKS involved, but please try.

Or, if it's not too much trouble, maybe you can swing by in YOUR BRAND-NEW BMW and pick up our kids each morning on your way into work.

THANKS.

The Party Pony Family

Anonymous said...

Wait a second. You're a pony. Can't you just trot the 1.4 miles each day?

Anonymous said...

Superintendent Organstick is meeting my lowest expectations and living up to his name.

Anonymous said...

P-Pony,

Zounds! If you google the superintendent's name, your blog comes up second.

(By the way, his first name is "Dick.")

Anonymous said...

Please give me a call at the school on Monday morning. I will instruct my assistant to anticipate your call. Then I will see that you are taken to a glue factory for your insolence.