Transporting Kids

[sahm2three]

Do you take kids to and from school? I have 5 dcb's, and three children of my own. I have a 7 passenger van, so I can't fit everyone in my van to take kids to school. So I have had to hire someone to come either sit with the kids while I take them to school and pick them up. I am not making that much money as of right now, as I have just started and have had a lot of expenses. So, I just thought I would find out what everyone else is doing. Is there a way to get out of transporting? Any ideas? Thanks!

[jen]

Nope, I don't transport. Generallyy, once kids reach school-age, if they are not in my district, they go on to the after-school-program affiliated with our district.

[mac60]

I do not transport anywhere either. I have a school bus pick up that stops at my house, even though I am in town.

[TGT09]

I don't transport to school. The bus stops at my house also. I don't take kids out of my school district.

[momofboys]

Originally Posted by sahm2three

Do you take kids to and from school? I have 5 dcb's, and three children of my own. I have a 7 passenger van, so I can't fit everyone in my van to take kids to school. So I have had to hire someone to come either sit with the kids while I take them to school and pick them up. I am not making that much money as of right now, as I have just started and have had a lot of expenses. So, I just thought I would find out what everyone else is doing. Is there a way to get out of transporting? Any ideas? Thanks!

I transport part of the time but just to drop off at school. The school is one 1/2 miles from my home but the bus still stops here. IT's much easier for me to have them ride the bus & we do that about 1/2 the time. On one day I have my 2 boys who are school agers to take & another school-age boy but when you add the 3 other kids I have I would have 6 & can not transport them safely as one would have to ride up front which is not allowed & I won't do it for safety reasons. On days that I only have 5 total I drive them to school; otherwise they ride the bus,

[sahm2three]

Yeah, we don't have bus service for in town kids. You have to live further than 2.5 miles from the school. It's pretty hard to get around it. I am going to have to figure something else out, because it is costing me $50 per week to have someone do it for me!

[GretasLittleFriends]

Originally Posted by sahm2three

Yeah, we don't have bus service for in town kids. You have to live further than 2.5 miles from the school.

2.5 Miles????!!!! South Dakota winters, little children, sub-zero temps, plus prairie wind chills... Sounds like a law suit waiting to happen!

In your neighboring state if the drive way is more than 1/4 mile long the bus driver is supposed to drive up the driveway and pick the children up at the house, at least in inclement weather. Perhaps it's a district thing here.

I do not have the vehicle capacity to transport children. I live on two bus routes, but the one picks the kids up at 6:30a and since I'm not willing to transport to that school I don't advertise it. Every once in a while I'll give my daughter and a dc girl a ride to school if my daughter has something going on, but it's extremely rare. Our district has a pre-k program that my son and another dcboy attend. The bus picks them up after lunch (for a fee) then they ride the afternoon bus home with the rest of the kids. Worth the $50/yr fee IMO. (Course dc mom & I split the cost...)

Ugh...the dreaded school run..... It totally sucks and I feel your pain. I too, did it with five dckids and my own two for four straight years and I hated every single day of it.

My kids are now homeschooled and I have to say I don't miss school runs for a single solitary moment. Nope, nadda, never.

I hope you find a solution.

[kitkat]

In our district you only get bussed if you are 2 or more miles from school or live in a hazardous walking area. I'm not sure if that's for all of WI, but I'm going to guess it is. I'm only a block and a half from school, so we walk. If it's raining or below zero then I drive because I can fit everyone in my van.

If you want to get out of transporting, I would suggest either eliminating the school age kids (which really wouldn't help because you still have to transport you own kids to school) or charging extra for transporting and using that money to pay for someone to stay with the other kids while you transport.

[misol]

Originally Posted by kitkat

If you want to get out of transporting, I would suggest either eliminating the school age kids (which really wouldn't help because you still have to transport you own kids to school) or charging extra for transporting and using that money to pay for someone to stay with the other kids while you transport.

I think it's a great idea to charge a transportation fee!

[TGT09]

Yep, I definitely wouldn't be wasting my own gas on other's school aged children. I'd be charging for that.

I used my tax return this year to buy a 15 passenger van. It was under $5000. It has 172,000 miles on it. It runs good. My thought it they kids can't hurt it. (i.e peeing on the seats, spilled sippys, etc.) It has made life so much easier. Plus I bought it for the daycare so it is a tax write off at the end of the year.