Why I Was Shocked When I Followed My Boise Student’s Bus

I have a special needs child who recently started taking the school bus in the morning and afternoon. As a parent of a kid who has never been without at least one of her parents around, I was very concerned about how it might go. The thought of it brought me to tears, and I was so worried that I decided to take the morning and afternoon off to do a stakeout on my daughter's school bus.

It's easy to think the worst when it comes to school buses. That could be from things you read, saw on a movie or television show, or experienced yourself. It was less than a year ago when an armed person walked onto a school bus while under the influence. Fortunately, everything turned out okay, but it could have gone differently. The incident made the district look into how they could make things better and safer for the students.

Part of that investigation was that they needed to make sure that the bus routes were less crowded. They also developed the BusZone app to allow parents always to locate their student's bus.

My investigation was specifically to find out how my kid would be loaded on and unloaded from the bus and how they would get to and from the classroom.

Much to my surprise, the driver and attendant were very helpful. She was loaded on and unloaded by a very caring adult, then the teacher walked her from the bus to the class. After school, the same teacher walked her back to the bus, where the attendant loaded her on and unloaded her at her final destination. The one thing that I was most concerned about was how the other kids would treat her. Even though she is a bit younger than the others, they treated her with a great deal of kindness.

When she got home, she only wanted to play with her Little People School Bus and sing "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round." She didn't feel uncomfortable and even enjoyed her time on the bus.  Now I feel better about it, too!

So far, I have nothing but great things to say about the Boise school bus system. Nice work, Boise Schools!