Thrusday, January 14, 1999
Schools watch kids after early dismissals
BY MIRIAM SMITH
The Cincinnati Enquirer
When area schools sent students home early Wednesday as roads turned into ice rinks, some bus drivers became baby sitters on wheels and school districts became latch-key centers.
Bus drivers like Linda Stanley of Kings Local Schools tried to make sure grade-school children had a parent, neighbor or baby sitter available when they were dropped off. Otherwise, they were returned to school to wait.
At a stop in Landen on Wednesday, a first-grader lugged her pink backpack and stepped off the bus, but not before driver Mrs. Stanley made sure there was someone at home.
“Is your mom home?” Mrs. Stanley asked. “You go down and let me know.”
The girl hurried to the door and tried it. “It's locked!” she cried.
“There she is,” Mrs. Stanley yelled as the girl's mother appeared at the door with cordless phone and coffee mug in hand.
In the Kings district, three of the four elementary schools were dismissed four hours early, while the other schools were dismissed a few hours later.
At Kings, as in many districts, if a parent isn't available, students get back on the bus and drivers call the district to try to contact the parents.
If no one is home by the end of the bus route, children are taken back to school, where they are cared for in latch-key programs until a parent can be reached.
Some parents on Mrs. Stanley's elementary route in Landen rotate baby-sitting responsibilities for groups of children.
“You have to remember as a driver which child goes to what home,” she said.
“It's one part of your job that's very important, getting to know the moms, dads and their schedules,” she said.
Cincinnati Public School officials have dismissed school early only once in the last 32 years due to weather because “there's no guarantee there would be a parent home or guardian or somebody to let them in,” said district spokeswoman Eileen Houston-Stewart.
“We want to make sure they're safe,” she said.
The district would have to notify about 30,000 households to cancel early. Parents are allowed to pick up children early if there is bad weather, she said.
Sycamore schools have established networks through parent-teacher organizations to reach families when schools close early. The district closed two hours early Wednesday.
“The biggest challenge is the elementary school kids, because you want to make sure the kids have a place to go,” said Superintendent Bruce Armstrong.
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