R.S.V.P. P.C.S.D.!?

This past Thursday, after the schools reopened, within the Town of Brighton sidewalks had yet to be cleared. Walkers to my neighborhood elementary school had no other choice but to walk in the streets. After school there was a back up of traffic for those picking up there children by car. As patience grew thin, a Penfield Central School District bus felt it necessary to commit the act shown in the photograph to the right. Let's see.......if I pull this stunt I could be ticketed. But a school bus, I assume, is to be held to a higher standard. I was pissed. So what do you do when you're pissed? Write a letter. Below is my letter to the Principal, Superintendent of PCSD, Director of PCSD Transportation and the HSA President.

Principal Connell,

I am writing to you today to share my experiences during the after school pickup earlier this afternoon. I had been quite optimistic about the revisions that were made to the original plan. All seemed to be going well until today.

I was at school earlier than usual to pick up my boys, so I thought some photographs of the lack of access to the sidewalks were in order. The sidewalks are a Town of Brighton responsibility however I think I would behoove the PCSD to take note of the lack of accessibility to the walkers of Indian Landing. Students left but no option than to walk in the street.

While chatting with some other parents we noticed that North Landing began to back up with traffic as in past poor weather days. The twist comes when not only cars too impatient to wait out the impromptu delay crossed the double yellow line, but a PCSD school bus felt that is was prudent to follow suit. How in the world can we take the PCSD administration's comments, regarding safety within the district, to heart when given this flagrant display of poor judgement.

The photographs below show the events as stated above and serve to affirm that the presence of a camera merely records an event and doesn't curtail it. Perhaps the bus was equipped with a PCSD approved video camera to record it's own careless actions. Just a thought.

To which I recieved the following response from the Principal:

Dear Mr. (name withheld to protect the antagonist),
Thank you for your email. As always, I appreciate your comments and input regarding our parent pick up system. The teachers that staff that pick up are keeping track of how many days we have back ups, as it has not been problematic since we made the adjustment back on December 11, 2006 of pulling the cars forward past the cafeteria to the second set of gates. As I said in my letter to all parents on December 11th, I appreciate your comments as we navigate the first year in this new system and we will continue to make adjustments, as needed to ensure the safety of our students.

A glorified form letter. At least she could have said she passed the buck up the ladder. That would have at the least made it appear as though they give a shit.

Maybe I have a history of not playing nice. Mixed with my acts of playing nice I'm sure this creates some confusion as to how to address my concerns.

Was is appropriate for me to bring this to there attention? Should we sit by while those carrying the most precious of packages create dangerous scenarios? Should they have the common decency to respond to the issue I raised? The only response came from the principal, I would think the Director of Transportation would at least have some followup questions. But that is if they only gave a shit. Push it under the carpet and all is well. Status Quo. And that's what they like. No surfing here, so lets not make waves. Oh yeah, ever heard of the The North Shore? Get ready PCSD. Cowabunga!!!!!!!!