Posted on 01/20/2005 4:49:01 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
SYRACUSE NY--When Lynnee Westbrook thinks about what her son went through her eyes well up. She says her two children take the school bus everyday, so she can't understand why the vice principal at McKinley Brighton told her 5-year-old son to walk home.
Under school policy, students must live more than a mile and a half to be bused. School spokesperson Neil Driscoll says Kevin is listed as a walker and lives on Newell Street, a block away from the school. Westbrook says they actually live on West Brighton Avenue and she doesn't know how the school got that information. She says her son walked several blocks to his daycare, where he gets dropped off after school.
"My baby who is 5-years-old who never walked anywhere a day in his life has to cross over major intersections to get to school to daycare. I felt that was very unacceptable," Westbrook said.
Westbrook says when she contacted the school, the vice principal had no knowledge of her child and said her son may have gotten confused with another conversation she was having with an older student.
"What's the need for him to walk? Why wasn't I informed? If he if missed his bus or whatever, you know that was my point. Nobody contacted me or they didn't contact emergency contact," Westbrook said.
"It was cold and my stuff was falling down, and I had to put my gloves in my book bag. I put my hands in my pocket," said Kevin Jennings, 5-year-old forced to walk home.
Kevin's mom says she wants to get to the bottom of what went wrong. Westbrook says she plans to get to the bottom of this during a meeting with the vice principal of the school Thursday.
Several BLOCKS. Not several MILES. Several BLOCKS.
Geez, I hate to sound like a cranky old man, but when I was a kid NO ONE expected a kid to take a bus if he or she only lived several BLOCKS from school.
No wonder our school taxes keep going up and our kids keep getting fatter and fatter.
My baby who is 5-years-old
Geez, lady, he's five years, not five months...why don't you put a dress on him already and get it over with?
In this day and age, I wouldn't want my 5 year old walking through the city alone either. And not just because of the weather or traffic.
We do not live in the same times now as when you were a kid. The world is now full of predators who look for children alone for very sick reasons.
I agree with the ideas behind your post, but the world is a little different than it was when you were a kid. There seem to be a lot more predators for children out there these days and they are watching the patterns of young kids like this, walking alone, every day after school.
Geez. This kid is going to turn out to be a real wimp. I remember walking from school when I was five here in So Cal. But it wasn't home, it was to my job in a coal mine. And it was uphill, both ways, in the snow!!!
You're not only cranky but not in touch with todays news. No 5 yr old should be out alone ever! it's unthinkable in this day and age for anyone to allow a child to go off walking by themselves. I too would have had a 'mental breakdown' if it was my 5 yr old.
The days of your youth are over..our children are being snatched, sexually attacked and murdered.
This is BS. I don't let my kids walk alone anywhere, with all the liberal perverts running loose out there...
I would be HIGHLY po'd at this moron teacher.
Join the 21st century--5-year-old kids don't cross busy intersections alone.
And now she demands that the State transport her kid all over the place.
Where is she? Couldn't she walk with him, or arrange for a relative to pick him up?
I wish that we still lived in that world.
We don't.
Actually it's not that different a world and that stuff happened in the "good old days" too. It just gets more publicity now.
And kidnapping by strangers is still incredibly rare. The vast majority of Amber Alerts and missing children are taken by one of the parents in a divorce.
If you truly hate to "sound like a cranky old man," or worse, sound like someone who has been asleep for years, it might be helpful for you to peruse the headlines of community newspapers across our vast country.
It has not been safe for children to walk anywhere without adult supervision for many years.
Why literally make a federal case out of it?
seems you're outnumbered !
Welcome to the Amber Alert Era. It's just so sad that kids can't be left alone to walk or ride their bikes without concern of abductions and worse.
WHen I was a kid, I had to walk about a mile to and from school .. and we walked home for lunch! In New York City! When I was 9, my parents let me and a friend ride the subway ALONE into Manhattan. No one gave it a second thought. Don't think that would happen today.
Your input is needed here. Ping.
You're way off base on this. The world we created for today's five-year olds is just not safe enough to blithely send them out unescorted in any area, especially an urban one.
And they wonder why kids are obese these days.
(Not that I think a little kid should be walking around the streets alone ...)
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