School Closings, realignment - no gas...

[JSPhoto]

So are your public schools closing or changing schedules, or dropping sports due to the fuel costs? I found out some schools near my parents have told parents to home school their kids because they can't afford to run the buses! Yet govenors and mayors don't see a problem..... go figure. I know Indy public schools are wanting to change schedules to help cut fuel costs, and many schools here are considering dropping some sports to cut fuel bills, but it may get them in hot water over the male/female sports rules..... but what is more important, cutting some sports or closing schools altogether.

JS

[Medley]

Our area is slated to close 11 schools in the next five years. Two of them will be middle schools, with the area switching to a K-8, 9-12 system. The rest are simply an effort to consolidate the remaining schools, and use them to their greatest efficiency.

However, our highly trained legislators are working feverishly on the problem, and may have come up with a solution. If they can just convince taxpayers to approve that multi-billion dollar levy, earmarked for higher wages for staff and faculty, they're pretty sure those people would be able to come up with a plan to save one or two schools.

*sigh* Such is life in a Blue State.

- Joe U.

[Old Timer]

Two things that I know of are going on here. One is some systems are planing to go to a four day school week with longer hours per day to cut fuel cost. The second is I read yesterday that a couple of school districts are limiting their school from scheduling athletic contest with schools that are more than 50 miles from them in an effort to cut down on fuel use to transport teams. In Fayette county (where Lexington is) the school board doesn't pay for travel for teams at all. It is up to the individual booster clubs to foot the bills at $2.00 per mile or if it is in the school district a flat $130 per event.

[JSPhoto]

IPS schools are changing hours as well but I don't see how their plan is going to help the fuel situation, especially since they started school a week ago, and it's only a 15 minute or so change. The taxpayers can only do so much, but the politicians don't get it, and neither do the schools. For years I have questioned schools who allowbus drivers to keep buses running during athletic events to keep the buses warm or cool, sometimes for 5 or 6 hours....

JS

[Kajuah]

Since when I was in highschool about 3 years ago now, I remember it being that we kids had to come up with the bus gas to the nearest community to have a tournement with the other town. The nearest community was 300 kms away and that on our old school buses wasn't an economical trip.

It turned out that the buses charged 600 $ per kid to go on the trip, and the kids would have to come up with that money themselves..me being from a financially challenged family, never got into sports in school to say the least. Not only is gas outrageously sick, but people who try to benefit from it too. 20 x 600 = 12 000 $. A 6 hour there and back bus ride should not cost 12 thousand dollars. I remember hearing that in the UK the government pays for sports trips for the kids to go across europe, or at least to places like the netherlands, germany and france to play other teams. Are we really getting the best economy on our way of life here in the americas?

[JSPhoto]

I have heard of schools here in the US charging as well, and it may well be a growing trend, it's sad though as many kids who don't have the $$ to pay for it will be left out, and in my opinion any kid who wants to play a sport should be allowed to play and the taxes we pay should cover it. The problem is so many tax $$ are wasted, and much of it on illegal aliens. Take the school up the street from me, they had to hire two Spanish speaking teachers for just two students who couldn't speak any English. The kids were born in Mexico, the parents snuck them into the US, neither parent is legal, neither speaks English. The two girls were 6 years apart in age. The two kids went to the school one year and were stuck paying the salary of two teachers who have no students now because the girls moved, thats around $45,000 wasted this year for two teachers who will now be full time subs for the year, working maybe two days a week at most.

JS

[f5fstop]

Illegals are everywhere; they are like a fungus that will not go away. Our current president, and it appears our next president (whoever, that might be) do not find illegal immigration a problem. Too bad none of them live the real world. It is not only the schools that are hurting; it is our medical care that is hurting. Hospitals, especially those in areas with large illegal populations are going under since they cannot get paid for rendering care, and can’t turn them away.
Since we can’t ship them back to where they belong, we should make sure employers who hire them are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. If that does not work, ship them to the sanctuary cities across the USA; they appear to love illegals.
As for schools, where I live they are not cutting down on anything…yet. Then again I live in a rather upscale northern suburb of Detroit, so money is no problem…yet. However, I have heard of some of the other schools in other suburbs of Detroit are cutting some sports, trying to consolidate bus routes, etc. As for Detroit City Schools, they are broke, have been broke for many years, and we in the suburbs keep having to bail them out. (Great waste of my tax money.) But, look at Detroit, a city run by a major who just got released from jail, and is awaiting two trial dates, one for eight counts of perjury and the other for assaulting a police officer on official business. So who would expect the school district to be run by intelligent people?