Fort Wayne Community Schools reinstate transportation to thousands of children.

The Issue

My Daughter, like thousands of other FWCS students lost their bus transportation at the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year. In our particular neighborhood there are no sidewalks, nor streetlights, not even a proper shoulder on the roads for them to walk safely to and from school. We live just 2 miles from the highschool. which is the limit. My child would have to walk in the road and cross a highway, walk in the road for another mile or so and walk up another highway until she reached school grounds then several hundred yards until a parking lot. In the winter months we are the last to be plowed. These children would be putting their lives in danger daily just to get to and from school. They would have to walk in the middle of the streets. Hundreds of children are put in this position. We do not own a vehicle, like many families. Thousands of students do not have sidewalks or crosswalks. The way FWCS decided to exclude transportation is they put each school in the center of a circle and drew a radius around them 2 miles for highschool, 1 mile for middle school and .5 miles around elementary schools. FWCS gave the parents no option. We had to purchase bus passes when I attended school. that was not an option. If we parents had our children walking... it would take my daughter over an hour in constant danger of being ran over, I would have social services over here hollering child endangerment. I am not alone in my plight. I do not want any child being hurt or loosing their life due to this disgustingly selfish cut. I believe going to school is very important not only in an educational aspect but to develop social skills. which are equally important.  Many parents like myself have to choose the safety of our children over their education everyday. That is NOT a choice we should have to make. FWCS preaches the safety of the students is very important, but they do not care that the 2 mile walk is dangerous. FWCS is one of Indiana's largest public school districts, with thousands of low income students below poverty level, therefore cannot spend hundreds of dollars to hire a driver, or for the city bus  that by the way do not always run by the schools the routes would have hundreds or more kids leaving 3 hours before school to have to traverse the city to get 2 miles away. The downtown station in my opinion is not safe for young kids either. The school board can get annual pay raises, the children suffer.  It is dangerous enough at these schools, I shouldn't have to worry that my child is going to be struck by a vehicle or abducted on the way. I along with thousands of parents are willing to pay 10$ a month for a school bus pass so my child can have a safe way to and from school each day. The greed of the board members is disgusting. most of the board of are the wealthiest families in the area so they do not know what it is like to choose medical insurance over a car note, or to pay your bills instead of fixing a broken vehicle. 90% of the parents of the FWCS students make these choices daily. Most of us are hard working people who pay our taxes, line these pockets of these officials.  I for one choose safety. Please sign and share my petition and help our kids get to school safely so that they are not deprived of an education because of dangerous conditions and situations. Its bad enough that  they must deal with bullies on a daily basis, just think if one of those bullies shoved your kid in front of a semi, or a distracted driver plowed into a walker because their phone rang. I have been the voice of countless families that go ignored by the schools, I will continue. Please help our voices be heard, help our children. 

 

This petition had 1,348 supporters

The Issue

My Daughter, like thousands of other FWCS students lost their bus transportation at the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year. In our particular neighborhood there are no sidewalks, nor streetlights, not even a proper shoulder on the roads for them to walk safely to and from school. We live just 2 miles from the highschool. which is the limit. My child would have to walk in the road and cross a highway, walk in the road for another mile or so and walk up another highway until she reached school grounds then several hundred yards until a parking lot. In the winter months we are the last to be plowed. These children would be putting their lives in danger daily just to get to and from school. They would have to walk in the middle of the streets. Hundreds of children are put in this position. We do not own a vehicle, like many families. Thousands of students do not have sidewalks or crosswalks. The way FWCS decided to exclude transportation is they put each school in the center of a circle and drew a radius around them 2 miles for highschool, 1 mile for middle school and .5 miles around elementary schools. FWCS gave the parents no option. We had to purchase bus passes when I attended school. that was not an option. If we parents had our children walking... it would take my daughter over an hour in constant danger of being ran over, I would have social services over here hollering child endangerment. I am not alone in my plight. I do not want any child being hurt or loosing their life due to this disgustingly selfish cut. I believe going to school is very important not only in an educational aspect but to develop social skills. which are equally important.  Many parents like myself have to choose the safety of our children over their education everyday. That is NOT a choice we should have to make. FWCS preaches the safety of the students is very important, but they do not care that the 2 mile walk is dangerous. FWCS is one of Indiana's largest public school districts, with thousands of low income students below poverty level, therefore cannot spend hundreds of dollars to hire a driver, or for the city bus  that by the way do not always run by the schools the routes would have hundreds or more kids leaving 3 hours before school to have to traverse the city to get 2 miles away. The downtown station in my opinion is not safe for young kids either. The school board can get annual pay raises, the children suffer.  It is dangerous enough at these schools, I shouldn't have to worry that my child is going to be struck by a vehicle or abducted on the way. I along with thousands of parents are willing to pay 10$ a month for a school bus pass so my child can have a safe way to and from school each day. The greed of the board members is disgusting. most of the board of are the wealthiest families in the area so they do not know what it is like to choose medical insurance over a car note, or to pay your bills instead of fixing a broken vehicle. 90% of the parents of the FWCS students make these choices daily. Most of us are hard working people who pay our taxes, line these pockets of these officials.  I for one choose safety. Please sign and share my petition and help our kids get to school safely so that they are not deprived of an education because of dangerous conditions and situations. Its bad enough that  they must deal with bullies on a daily basis, just think if one of those bullies shoved your kid in front of a semi, or a distracted driver plowed into a walker because their phone rang. I have been the voice of countless families that go ignored by the schools, I will continue. Please help our voices be heard, help our children. 

 

The Decision Makers

FWCS school board
FWCS school board

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