Is Your Child's Safety More Important than Teacher's Union Pay?

School Cutbacks or Endanger Your Child? Save R.O. School Buses
The Royal Oak School District decided to eliminate buses for children, beginning in September of this year. I wonder...Did the board or the superintendent consider the inconvenience for parents who may have to quit their jobs in order to transport their children to school? Did they think about how hard it is to get a job these days. How hard it is to arrange a new schedule with an employer. More importantly, did they think about how unsafe it is for children to walk unescorted these days?

I venture to guess they did not consider that a child from my house would have to cross Woodward Avenue, a six lane thoroughfare....in Michigan....during winter. I guess they did not consider that cars may slide off slippery roads and a child could become seriously injured. (Just ask the residents of Hilliard, Ohio as two teens were seriously injured this year) I guess they never considered that child predators would love the opportunity to snatch one of these darlings.

It seems it is more important to keep the six figure salary of Dr. Tom Moline and to keep intact the pensions and salaries of the teachers, than to protect Royal Oak's children. The superintendent and the school board chose to maintain the status quo of the teacher's union, over the general welfare of the students.

Though I no longer have a child at home, I remember a very serious situation when my daughter was in grade school. Despite writing a note in my daughter's personal file in the principal's office asking that my daughter not be dismissed from school without my knowledge, she was sent home anyway, across six lanes of traffic. There was no crossing guard at Woodward. Six inches of new snow had just fallen. I was at work and knew nothing of the school dismissal. Without the keen eye of a neighbor who spotted her freezing outside, my child might of died.

I formed a new Facebook group today: Save Our School Bus. Please join this on line group and join me in person at 6 p.m. March 11th to protest this decision at the next school board meeting. The very safety of your children is at stake.