This is outrageous! Just a few short weeks ago, it was unthinkable that children had to wait 15 minutes after school for a bus to come and pick them up. Now the school board comes up with this plan that penalizes walkers and and car riders. I would let my children ride the bus home if the school district could guarantee me that they are safe--unfortunately, they have already failed that test! Are they for real? Wasn't the parking area designed so that buses would be in a seperate area from the cars? Where are the cars supposed to wait while the buses are loading? On Maple Ave? The Township is going to have a field day with this one! The school day is over at 3:30--FOR EVERY ELEMENTARY STUDENT! I will not give you any more time with my children! Looks like I'll be signing them out every day at 3:25!
Come on Mr. Miller--Educate the parents? If you haven't noticed, we are the educated ones--and obviously the ones only ones with any common sense!

HOW DARE THEY MAKE CAR DISMISSAL LATER!!!
THIS BOARD IS NUTS!!!
HOW LONG CAN WE STAND THE BAD DECISIONS FROM THIS BOARD OF SUPERVISORS???
FIRST THE MEGA SCHOOLS, THEN GIVING AWAY THE OLD SCHOOLS FOR NOTHING, THEN NO BUSES TO TRANSPORT THEM, THEN BLOCK SCHEDULES WITH KIDS EATING AFTER 1:15, MAKING THE SCHOOL DAY LONGER, EVERYDAY NIGHMARE MATH, AND NOW DETENTIONS BASED ON HOW KIDS GET TO AND FROM SCHOOL!!
I WILL TELL THEM MY KIDS ARE BUSED, THEN I WILL WAVE AS I DRIVE AWAY!!!

Why do our children have to pay for the mistakes of our School Board?? The School Board made the quick decisions to move forth with these new school, now the kids have to pay yet again. When is enough, enough. When this whole process begin, the Board spoke of all things being equal amongst all three schools. Guess what?? This is not being equal. They add 1/2 an hour to the school day now you want me to add another 15-20 minutes, this will not happen. If it is a fight the School Board wants well the Davis parents will give them one. We are relentless when it comes to our children. They are who we have to answer too!!
STOP MAKING OUR CHILDREN PAY FOR THE MISTAKES OF THE SCHOOL BOARD!!

15 Minutes isn't really 15 minutes. It's more like 40 minutes by the time you are allowed to line up, and then make it through the car rider line of parents. Home by Dinner.........

What is their answer to car rider drop off & Bus drop off in the mornings. Are they going to time that also. Another thing not thought of ahead of time.

I agree- this is completely unacceptable!! First they propose that crazy staggered schedule, then finally, at the 11th hour, there is a compromise to make the day until 3:30 but now they're FORCING the walkers and car riders to stay until at least 3:45 anyway!!!! How dare they tell me that school is closed but I'm not allowed to pick up my child!!!!!

PARENTS: Mr. Miller and the rest of the school board members' phone numbers and email addresses can be accessed at http://centennialsd.org/page/312, but just to make it a little easier for you, here's their emails,
millmb@centennialsd.org; shafda@centennialsd.org; lyncja@centennialsd.org; kleich@centennialsd.org; hartmi@centennialsd.org; adamst@centennialsd.org; dribka@centennialsd.org; hufbet@centennialsd.org; pollan@centennialsd.org

This is insane. Where would they like the parents to sit and wait for the buses to leave the parking lot? Has anyone ever gone to Klinger to pick there kids up in the back. The buses take a while to fill up and then they release them at the same time. I have picked my sons up in the back and then waitied 15 minutes to be let out of the school lot. Other days i get lucky and pick them up and get out before the crossing guard holds us in. Point is timing. How the heck can ll of the parents that pick up their kids time when the buses will leave? Should we cirlce the surrounding neighborhood until we see the buses all leave? There will be mass caos on Maple avenue at pick-up time. Making it really safe for the walkers. The school board came up with this plan? Wow at least their not paid for their bad ideas but the superintendent of schools is and did she agree with this plan? It will be a parking and traffic nightmare. Has anyone tried picking up their kid from Stackpole? Imagine if the parents had to wait outside the parking lot for all the buses to leave where the heck would these cars go? How many more students will be in this school then Stackpole? If you live near maple prepare for traffic nightmares on maple. Will they adjust the timing of the lights on maple and 2nd Street Pike? When does Klinger let out? You'll have those kids walking home down maple with all this mess going on. Sorry to ramble on i'm just mad.

Also, I believe the teacher's contractual day ends at 3:45 (I could be wrong due to the new contract). However, if it does end at 3:45 then who will be assisting with car rider dismissal?

I think all of you are so out of line. The school isn't even open yet and everyone is going crazy. Everyony sit back take a deep breath and give it a month to try and get the kinks out then if it is still out of control hit them with your best shot. Look at the good right now. The kids are getting a new beautiful school with air and will have the time of their life making new memories and friends. I live on Maple Ave and see it all. People running stop signs, talking on their phones while driving not to mention driving way over the speed limit but I am not going to say anything for now. They have one month to get it together then look out if things don't change.

I think some of the traffic problems would be lessened if more of those who qualify for busing used this valuable carpooling service. I know many parents site safety concerns with the bus system but we have only had positive experiences and caring bus drivers.

So the teacher asks the first child "Why are you in detention?"
The first child repsonds "For cheating on a test."
The teacher asks the second child "Why are you in detention?"
The second child answers "I am in detention everyday, because my mom picks me up"

Geez its not like the School Board is going to buy a half million dollar sound system for a High School Auditorium and saying there is no money for buses. Hey....Wait a minute...

The School Board must really hate the taxpayers, parents and children

I must agree that this is total over-reaction. Come on, people. You can't just ring a bell and send 750 kids flying in every which direction. There must be orderly dismissal and therefore some are going to have to sit tight for a few extra minutes. Buses will need priority because I guarantee it will take longer to get all those kids home than for you and yours.

By the rationale above, my kindergartners had "detention" every day after school last year because they waited 20 minutes for their bus to pick them up at the end of the day. Nope, not my favorite set of circumstances, but I refuse to be a helicopter parent and I also refuse to be part of the pick-up chaos unnecessarily.

Pulling kids off the bus doesn't solve a problem - it just creates a new one.

It is obvious that this "regional elementary school" project was not thought all the way through, but we are where we are. So let's set an example for all of our children for how to work through difficult community circumstances with cooperation and graciousness....and let's get over the fact that your kid isn't more important than mine and mine isn't more important than yours.

Dear Amy, lets me get this straight. You are at home 5-10 minutes away from the school. Your small child has to wait 20 minutes to get on the bus and probably has another 20 minutes before they get off the bus and walk home. You would rather have your elementry age child waste 40 minutes a day, versus your precious 10 minutes. That is truly pathetic and very lazy. You set a bad example for all parents. You obviously dont want to spend time with your own child, and I am sad for your child.

All of you should be thankful that this is the worst thing you must worry about.

Put it into perspective and stop the complaining. It may work out better than you think.

You can't please everyone and unfortunately these blogs are a way for the few to make a mountain out of a molehill.

I am thankful my children are healthy and happy. I try to teach them how to solve problems and deal with situations like this. After all, when they become adults they need to know what is important to change and what isn't. To me, this is another example of what isn't and people having too much idle time on their hands. Perhaps they need to volunteer in the schools????

So the children who are bussed can't wait 10 minutes for their bus, but my child who has to be driven can wait 15 minutes for me. Plus by the time I actually get my daughter in my car it will be closer to 4:00! I think the people who don't care are not parents, or their children are bussed, so they can care less. My child should not have to spend an extra 1/2 hour at school because of bad planning. No letting parents on to the lot till 3:45 is also stupid. They are trying to avoid traffic problems, well they are going to have even bigger ones by keeping us away till 3:45. This is something they should have factored in when planning the school, and made adjustments to the parking lots to deal with it. We have a bunch of stupid people running the school board. If the real estate market was not so bad, I would move out of this school distric TODAY!

While not thrilled with all the changes (putting it mildly) I do have a safety question. When my youngest was in kindergarten I started working during the day. Luckily for us he was able to be bussed to my work. I asked the driver if they could pull into the parking lot rather than drop him at the curb because once in a while I would get caught up with the phone or customer and not be able to meet him at the bus stop. I was told they could not do this because the busses were not allowed to back up with children around. It appears from the diagram of the new Davis bus area that all of the busses will be backing up twice a day. I do hope there will be sufficient staffing to insure that no children are injured with busses pulling in and backing out like a Greyhound station.

To those who are so quick to criticize those of us who are upset about this dismissal mess, let me try to explain. It's not just this mess, but the countless problems created unnecessarily by this school board, This is just the latest in a long line of decisions that were not thought out, or left to the last minute so that there are no other options. Many of the parents I know have been dealing with these decisions for 3 years now and just when you think it can't get worse, it does. We are tired of getting the short end of the stick because of the incompetence of this administration.
And, to Carly, many of the comments here are made by those who are very active at school. We volunteer at school and are active with Home and School to make things better for all the kids. Doesn't leave a lot of extra time on our hands.

This board of moroons voted us 3.2 million dollar football field for a High School that benefits like 25 kids a year. These moroons voted a $500,000 sound system for a High School and then told us we have no money for buses and then just raised our taxes to pay for buses. They knew they needed buses, but yet were retiring (auctioning off) a bunch old buses that still worked just because they were 13 years old. I would like to use that sound system to yell at them in full blast.

Is there a State Department we can complain to about all this stupidity? Can we get them investigated? Can we get a higher authority to reverse these some of these bad decisions? I wish I could sue them for all the trouble they have caused this District.

Who the heck has ever heard of a staggered dismissal time for the same school for walkers, bus riders and pickups? Why should walkers be detained at all? These people are either nuts or complete idiots if they think the general public will tolerate this nonsense.

If they are so concerned with traffic problems the parent drivers will cause, why didn't they pave a lane on the other side of the building and knock a hole in the wall for a car-riders dismissal door. It IS still in the final stages of construction, is it not? This policy is to try to force the car-riders to use the bus system that their parents have already decided is not right for their families. Congratulations if you've had nothing but good experiences with busses. I've had nothing but bad experiences. My children's bullying experiences (and my own as a child ) ALL took place on school busses because there's just no reasonable way to supervise the kids, most certainly not in our district where the employees are dropping like flies. And tell me WHY should my child spend 30 minutes in transit when I live 5 minutes away. That's never made sense to me. Neither does piling up on the roads surrounding the school because Mr. Miller intends to "enforce" this new rule and keep me from accessing my child after school's been dismissed, but I won't be bullied, I will stand up for what's right for my child.

I havent heard anything in a couple weeks now, I bet the Board is trying to think up more bad decisions. My spider senses are tingling..

AH HA, Just saw they are having a Special Meeting meeting tomorrow night. One of the items on the list is to bid sound system for McDonald Elementry and Sports Field Shelters bid WTHS.

First off Elementry Schools DO NOT NEED EXPENSIVE SOUND SYSTEMS, "MY Country Tis of Thee" doesnt need to be played in Surround Sound!!!

Secondly when I went to WTHS the only Sports Field Shelters we had were called unbrellas!!!

Dont let these Clowns Waste More Of our Money on FLUFF!!!

Put the Cash into getting adequate buses and getting the children out of school by 3:15 not 3:30!!!

I have to say kudos to the principal and vice principal at Davis for actually listening to the concerns of the parents and not just blowing us all off (like the members of the school board did). I think the adjustment to the dismissal procedure is working relatively well, and with some common sense application I think it will continue to smooth out as everyone works out the kinks.