There’s roughly a week left before the majority of local school districts open for students next week.
And while parents and guardians are rushing around trying to get those much-needed school supplies and clothes, I’m left wondering if they’ve had time to review safety needs or event possibilities.
Throughout my career as a Bay City ISD student, my modes of transportation crisscrossed all over this city.
Sure, the majority of my time was spent as a car rider, but I also spent a few years as a walker and bus rider, too.
Not that I’m trying to date myself, but this was also before cellphones became majorly mainstream and applications that tracked bus routes or riders weren’t even imagined yet.
And I know some of my friends’ parents had pagers/beepers and a few in on-call job settings had other forms of communication, but overall most didn’t.
In fact, I didn’t get my first cellphone until my senior year of high school and that was for emergencies only or relegated to the proverbial “nights and weekends” only type of scenarios.
There were plenty of times that I walked home in the rain and had wished for a cellphone to call for a ride rather than enduring soggy socks and shoes for almost two miles.
I’m not even sparing a recollection glance back to how hard it was to keep textbooks from being damaged either!
But, I survived and didn’t have to pay to replace any books, so it worked out in the end.
Still, that’s all before the campus madness we’ve been subjected to over the past 20-plus years!
Students now have to worry about so many more possibilities and it’s up to the adult figures in their lives to help prepare them safely.
Several of my friends and former classmates have pulled their children from public school this year and opted to homeschool them personally.
They’ve cited various reasons including excessive testing, school safety, test-focused education and other personal reasons.
I can’t say that I disagree with most of them, however, I’m also torn.
On one hand, I don’t have kids of my own, so, I wouldn’t even know what I’d do in similar situations.
On the other, I feel like it sort of deprives children from creating core memories, friendships, and experiences.
Still, I fully support parental and guardian concern regarding the safety of their own child when it comes to school and similar environments.
I think that the hardest school safety aspect to wrap my head around is just how often drivers ignore designated school zones.
Last year, it seemed like every month there were several social media posts and comments regarding near-misses in pick-up or drop-off lines and crosswalks around local campuses.
I’m hoping to see less this year, but I’m not going to hold my breath since we’ve got three bridges out for repair and the general public seems to forget the train schedule, too.
All I can do is encourage everyone to include school safety with their preparations this week by starting before they leave their home.
