Why cant school buses ditch kids who are late to the bus at the school? Like on the way home, if a kid is late when all the others arrived to the bus on time, why cant they leave the late kid behind since its not fair to the on time kids to wait?
09.06.2025 02:21
When I was at secondary school, school finished at 3.45pm. My bus left at 4.05 pm. It took 15–17 minutes to get there. Along the route was a train line with the barriers that go down when trains are about to pass. Those barrier went down at 3.58 roughly. If you didn't make it across before the barriers went down, you were a couple minutes late for the bus. So if a teacher kept us behind for 2 or 3 minutes, that made us late. If the barriers went down before we got there, that made us even later.
The majority of kids late to the bus when going home, are late because a teacher caused it, not because they dawdled along. Why should they be punished because a so-called responsible adult made them late?
No kid WANTS to stay at school after being there all day, so if they are running late, theres usually a good reason for it, and leaving them to find an alternative route home, is never a good idea.
Should they walk home? Hitch a ride? sleep in the local bus station?
We had one driver that would leave on time, regardless of whether or not he could see kids running up from the train barriers. After numerous complaints from parents about kids that got left behind, the bus company told the drivers to wait till the barriers had been up for at least 10 minutes, even though that would make them late.
And what, pray tell, do you want to happen to the kids you are advocating for being left behind?