I did not walk 10 miles in five feet of snow to get to school, but I did walk a mile through the stubble of a newly cut buckwheat field, and I did walk a mile to high school. With a 10-subject curriculum, I carried lots of books, heavy books. I have been confounded at the treatment of kids around here who apparently are not allowed to walk 50 feet. My street is flooded with buses in the mornings and afternoons. The grammar school is only 10 blocks away. The high school would require a ride, but we have C-Tran running that route only one block away.
Why do we need school buses when the high cost of having them cuts out other programs?
Our street is narrow and has no sidewalk. I am told that we need school buses because it isn’t safe to walk on our street. After the bus has brought the children home, this is the same “unsafe” street that they walk on, ride their bikes on, use their skateboards on, play games on. Is there some magic that makes it unsafe in the mornings, but OK in the afternoons?
If Gov. Chris Gregoire thinks the money should go elsewhere, I am with her.
Marilyn Tyrrell
Washougal
