• NegentropicBoy@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    “Kentucky’s largest school system cancelled the second and third day of classes”

    “…the bus for her two elementary school children was scheduled to pick them up at 6 a.m. for a 7:40 a.m. school start. The bus stop is almost a half-mile from their home and there are no sidewalks.”

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The paragraph after that makes it even worse:

      Gomis called the district’s transportation department but was told nothing could be changed, she said. Kentucky law allows bus stops for elementary students to be up to a half-mile away while middle and high school students may walk up to one mile.

      It probably doesn’t hurt a high schooler to walk a mile (although it would suck ass in the winter), but a half-mile for a first grader every morning no matter the weather? That should not be legal.

      • Bipta@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        I used to live closer than that to my elementary school and I was forbidden (by the school) from walking to school.

        • spookex@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          That kinda sucks, used to live like 900m from mine and walked back from school every day since I started it.

          Didn’t walk to the school because I was too hard to get up early enough for it and mom didn’t mind dropping me off in the morning

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          That’s true for kids at my daughter’s middle school too, but I’m actually glad they don’t walk it because there aren’t even any sidewalks around the school, let alone between the schools and their houses. So some kids have a 90 minute bus ride and other kids have a 2 minute bus ride. All they have to do is build sidewalks and it will fix that problem.

      • Jenn@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        Our state requires “safe walking routes”. I’m not sure about the distance to a bus stop, but I know for walking to school it’s up to a mile for elementary school, if there are sidewalks. Otherwise they’re bussed.

      • yetAnotherUser@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        Why should half a mile of walking be illegal for first graders? There’s a solution to rain and snow: it’s called a jacket and umbrella. Source: I walked almost exactly half a mile to school in first grade.

        Unless the weather is catastrophically bad, even first graders can walk half a mile.

        The issue here is the carcentric, children-killing infrastructure, not the distance.

      • lemmefixdat4u@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Not only Kentucky. I live in a rural California town of around 2000 people. There are no sidewalks except for the 1/4 mile in front of the elementary school, and that wasn’t built until a kid was hit by a car 6 years ago. Last year a 4th grader was killed by a drunk driver walking home from school on the main road through town - which has no sidewalk. Most of us drive our kids to and from school now, particularly since an attempted abduction happened earlier this year. Bus service is available, but costs $185 a year per child and requires being at the stop an hour before school starts. My daughter won’t let her kids walk the 1/4 mile to the bus stop unattended. Not in these times. I think the bus may become even more unpopular since the special ed driver was arrested last week for molesting kids.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          There are no sidewalks in my (very large) subdivision, but all of the roads are far wider than necessary and could absolutely have a sidewalk on each side. But since there aren’t any, you have to dodge people walking and jogging all the time. And people speed down the twisty roads too.