The school bus schedule coincides with my morning walk - the clearest indication of all that it is indeed Back to School time.
I live in Balsam, NC which straddles the county lines of Jackson and Haywood. As a result, students living in Balsam can elect to go to either Jackson County Public Schools OR Haywood County Public Schools. The bus that runs down my road between 6:55 and 7:02 everyday is a Jackson County bus. Between the two counties there are probably close to 100 school buses and those who pay attention to bus schedules are probably glad to be able to access the schedules through either county's school website.
On a selfish note, I like the bus schedule on my road - it makes for a good target to compete against for improving my timing on my walk! I've never met the driver, but I like her. She is methodical, carefully gives me a wide berth in the road, always smiles and waves. You can tell a lot about someone by observing how they drive. This woman is the benign and kindly ruler of her bus schedule.
Because most of the county is fairly rural, it seems that the majority of children either ride the bus or have parents drive them to school. I remember mostly walking to school. I know my brothers and I walked to school in Warren, Michigan...Chula Vista, California...not so sure about Albuquerque & Farmington, New Mexico...and walked to school in Miami, Florida. Never had to trudge through 3' high snow drifts in bare feet like most parents said they did whenever kids whined about walking, but I sure walked my share of 95 plus degree days. I think its kind of sad that more kids don't have the opportunity to walk to school. I'm no expert, but maybe that's one reason childhood obesity was something unusual when I was school age.
School memories are mostly wonderful for me and its my wish that many children today have access to teachers who make education a constant adventure and use the lure of bright futures as a reward for paying attention to schoolwork. We always knew what the end goal was (well, except for the metric system). I still remember entering first grade and the teacher promising that the next day we would learn something fantastic. She was right, we began to make sense of the alphabet and started learning to read!
So, here in Balsam, NC I like to be reminded that school is back in session by sharing the bus schedule on my daily walk!
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