Posted on 02/19/2024 9:08:40 AM PST by Morgana
Kindergarteners in rural West Virginia must endure a three hour commute to and from school each day, leaving the five year-olds too exhausted to play.
Among them is Kolbie Hale, 5, who gets up at 5am each weekday and leaves her home in Waiteville, West Virginia, each day at 5.45am- like clockwork.
Her parents drive her to the home of her grandmother Tammy Hale, a few miles down the road. There, she she waits for the 6.25am bus to Mountain View Elementary and Middle School, with the trip taking 90 minutes.
She arrives in time to recite the pledge of allegiance with the rest of her classmates at 8.25am, The Register-Herald reported.
The school, located on Mountain View in Union, is just under 20 miles from Kolbie's home in Waiteville, roughly a 30-minute drive by car if taking State Highwy 3 West, the most direct route.
But Kolbie is picked up first and must then endure a very scenic route to collect the other children, including a trip over Peters Mountain. And at the end of the day, she must suffer the same journey in reverse after school ends at 3:25pm - meaning she's the last student dropped off, at around 5pm.
She has dinner with her parents Erin and Rick Hale, who have themselves just finished work, and is in bed by 7:30pm to give her enough sleep before she wakes up again at 5am the next day.
An excruciatingly long day for a five-year-old that has caused a mix of frustration and angst by many families, who claim that the bus times have only increased over the years with the consolidation of several schools in Monroe County.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I personally know parents who live so far out in the boonies, and this is in Kanawha County, that they homeschool through the county or else the mom would spend all day driving and picking the kids up from school.
Two miles was the greatest distance any students walked.
Then we were bussed for 2 hours round trip.
Kids on the other side of town and some other parts of the district rode 4 hours a day on the busses.
That was in good weather.
From my perspective, perhaps the greatest symbol of America’s decline is the ubiquitous yellow school bus. It perfectly captures the dysfunctional essence of what is wrong with America today.
Yup—folks out here in rural country mostly homeschool.
The kids learn much more than they do at the public schools are not at risk for grooming, leftist propaganda or getting beaten up because they caused four hundred years of slavery.
Agree. Drop the poor girl off at grandma’s before work, if need be, and pick her up afterwards.
Better still, let mom (or dad, if preferred) stay home with the kiddo and some neighbor kid or kids (if need be to make ends meet). How much learned helplessness does it take to let government schooling make your little girl go through all that at age 5?!?
We have yellow school buses out here in the boonies.
They drive around empty—parents have figured out that the schools are enemy occupied territory.
I guess the focus is not on the education received but the child’s inability to play. At least she has time to do her homework.
If it was closed, why did you go?
*Laughs in 1800s schoolhouse*
I believe “Learned Helplessness” is the state motto of West Virginia. :-P
What’s left out of the article is that this is the consequence of decades of county school consolidation and centralization that has been going on in WV. Reason given shrinking population shrinking school age population. Real reason ease and cost to administer and make it easier on the heavily unionized teachers and administration. Any creative solutions proposed to keep the schools local to the students & parents are immediately shoot down by the county and state educrat establishments.
That’s a good reason to homeschool your children.
Meh, I used to walk three hours to school every day, uphill...both ways!
Tied to that is something spread through all the states. As soon as “free” kindergarten is available, only wealthier parents can resist institutionalizing their wee ones that way. To the detriment of the wee ones so institutionalized (and cost to the taxpayer).
Typo
shoot = shot
When I attended kindergarten, it was over by noon, and the emphasis was on socialization skills. the Three R’s began in the first grade.
I also walked a half-mile to and from school. But that was in a galaxy far, far away, when my state of California had two Republican Senators and a Republican governor, and both LA and SF had Republican mayors.
Yeah, everybody could pitch in so one mother could teach the kids and get paid at least something for it.
Home schooling is doable for any parents.
They have to use their brains, get some determination, get a little creative, get relatives and neighbors and friends and their local church to help.
They need to stop making excuses and get it done—the resources on the Internet these days have never been better.
Their kids are worth it.
I went to ONE ROOM SCHOOL-—1/2 mile from our driveway.
THE HIGH SCHOOL bus did the same route—AM & PM.
FIRST kids picked up in AM were FIRST kids dropped off in PM.
DON’T REMEMBER THE LENGTH OF THE ROUTE, But WE were 3rd from last for pickup-—and 3rd from last for drop off.
NO CAFETERIA in HS. Packed PB &J sandwiches all thru high school. 4 kids==a whole loaf of Wonder bread EVERY SCHOOL DAY.
HS had a dispenser where you could get 8 OZ of cold milk for a nickle.
WOULD NOT TRADE THAT EDUCATION FOR ANYTHING TODAY.
I live rural-———
DURING COVID-—EMPTY LARGE BUSSES DELIVERED NOON MEALS TO HOMES OF KIDS.....
I WAS FURIOUS
NOT that many kids-—COULD HAVE DONE THAT WITH A STATION WAGON
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