Posted By osgoodsnog on 04/09/2008 8:10 PM
one hour each way.... 2 hours a day

180 days of school.... 360 hour each school year in a bus on a dangerous road, never to be gained back in homework or education. This does not include the extra time if there is and accident ahead of the bus... Oh and I hope your elementary kid does not have to pee!

360 / 24 is 15 days each school year in the life of your child, spend on a school bus or equvelant to 45 eight hour work days... whichever make you feel more comfortable with this type of decision.

Stay in town and get involved if you can. Be a part of the child's education process, volunteer 45 days out of the school year as a reminder to yourself what a sacrifice you almost had your child make. Help our city and school district improve, share your talents where you can, and maybe your kids will imitate that character trait when they grow up!

Good luck with your decision. Either way may be a rough road, one wich may get easier, and the other will remain long.

This is so not true....  I know from personal experience that the ride to Milenio (on the bus)  from Basha's takes 25-30 minutes, and the ride home to the last stop at Fry's takes 35 minutes.  In the past 4 months (since the construction stopped) this hasn't varied much more than 5 minutes with the exception of one foggy day where it took an hour to get to school.  Now this is for Milenio, but from my understanding Lago's only takes an additional 5 minutes (but I don't know that route from personal experience). 

Furthermore, the children sit with their friends on the bus that not only go to their school, but live in Maricopa insuring them friendships galore in Maricopa on off school hours and summer breaks. 

As for bathroom breaks, all of the bus kiddo's know to go to the restroom before the bus, and the teachers know to scurry them off to the restrooms before the bell rings. 

Now I had my kids at Santa Rosa, and then switched them to Milenio and they are only leaving the house 15 minutes earlier then they had at Santa Rosa.  They do get home 45 minutes later than they had when at Santa Rosa, but the smaller class sizes (and yes yes I know this next year the classes are projected to have smaller class sizes here in Maricopa), the aids in all the Kinder classes, the K3 program, and the Homework program and the other bells and whistles you get from going to an established school in a more funded school district make the 45 minutes so well worth it for my family.  Furthermore, during those 45 minutes my kiddo's get their homework done much of the time, or their reading minutes done, or play games with their peers, color, unwind, take a much needed power nap.  It's not a bad thing at all. 

Everyone is so worried about your kids knowing peers out here.  I can't go into the grocery store, etc without running into some child we know.  I don't think you all know how many people actually go out of town for schools, but in reality we could create a school specifically for the kids leaving with the amount of kids that shuttle out.  We also do girl scouts here in town, and do parks and recs sports.  My kids are not feeling shorted at all, and the benefits sooooo out weigh the negatives.

We have two children and just moved to Maricopa from out of state.  Our son, who is in high school, chose to go to MP.  It was a good decision for him.  He was active in volunteer activities, church activities, sports before we moved here and we've found a way for him to access those in Maricopa.  He has met some kids here who also go to MP and that has helped.  Most of his friends though live in Awatukee.  On Fridays, he comes back to Maricopa, cleans up for a date or hanging out with friends and heads back up 347.    I stay in touch with his teachers through e-mail.  They have all been willing to keep me posted on his progress.   It is difficult for us as parents to get to know his friends and their parents.  He's driving and usually goes that way instead of them coming out this way.  That is a definite drawback.

We also have a daughter who needs a bit of special help.  We enrolled her in the preschool at Santa Rosa and we couldn't be happier with the progress she is making.   We had to work with the special education department for her evaluation and enjoyed that process.   I would not have put her in public preschool where we lived before.  I am very comfortable with our decision to put her in the Santa Rosa preschool. 

As you can already see from all the replies, each child is different and each family is different.  Pray for wisdom in your unique situation and I think God will give you clarity.   Stay involved in your kid's life and you will find that he/she will probably have a successful school career and probably a successful life.  I would say that the hour a family spends together at the dinner table is as important as the school he/she goes to! 

Posted By skoko on 04/10/2008 4:45 PM

Posted By osgoodsnog on 04/09/2008 8:10 PM
one hour each way.... 2 hours a day

180 days of school.... 360 hour each school year in a bus on a dangerous road, never to be gained back in homework or education. This does not include the extra time if there is and accident ahead of the bus... Oh and I hope your elementary kid does not have to pee!

360 / 24 is 15 days each school year in the life of your child, spend on a school bus or equvelant to 45 eight hour work days... whichever make you feel more comfortable with this type of decision.

Stay in town and get involved if you can. Be a part of the child's education process, volunteer 45 days out of the school year as a reminder to yourself what a sacrifice you almost had your child make. Help our city and school district improve, share your talents where you can, and maybe your kids will imitate that character trait when they grow up!

Good luck with your decision. Either way may be a rough road, one wich may get easier, and the other will remain long.

This is so not true....  I know from personal experience that the ride to Milenio (on the bus)  from Basha's takes 25-30 minutes, and the ride home to the last stop at Fry's takes 35 minutes.  In the past 4 months (since the construction stopped) this hasn't varied much more than 5 minutes with the exception of one foggy day where it took an hour to get to school.  Now this is for Milenio, but from my understanding Lago's only takes an additional 5 minutes (but I don't know that route from personal experience). 

Furthermore, the children sit with their friends on the bus that not only go to their school, but live in Maricopa insuring them friendships galore in Maricopa on off school hours and summer breaks. 

As for bathroom breaks, all of the bus kiddo's know to go to the restroom before the bus, and the teachers know to scurry them off to the restrooms before the bell rings. 

Now I had my kids at Santa Rosa, and then switched them to Milenio and they are only leaving the house 15 minutes earlier then they had at Santa Rosa.  They do get home 45 minutes later than they had when at Santa Rosa, but the smaller class sizes (and yes yes I know this next year the classes are projected to have smaller class sizes here in Maricopa), the aids in all the Kinder classes, the K3 program, and the Homework program and the other bells and whistles you get from going to an established school in a more funded school district make the 45 minutes so well worth it for my family.  Furthermore, during those 45 minutes my kiddo's get their homework done much of the time, or their reading minutes done, or play games with their peers, color, unwind, take a much needed power nap.  It's not a bad thing at all. 

Everyone is so worried about your kids knowing peers out here.  I can't go into the grocery store, etc without running into some child we know.  I don't think you all know how many people actually go out of town for schools, but in reality we could create a school specifically for the kids leaving with the amount of kids that shuttle out.  We also do girl scouts here in town, and do parks and recs sports.  My kids are not feeling shorted at all, and the benefits sooooo out weigh the negatives.

Does your child's bus have seatbelts?

D-Dub, I am just curious (as a parent concerned about the school system) what you mean when you say your kids are doing better at legacy than they were at Pima Butte. Better grades? Better socialization? More excited about there course work? Less homework? 

I'm just trying to understand everybodies opinions. I had heard that Pima Butte was doing very well.

I've heard parents say that their kids are doing better in MUSD than in other systems because they get better grades.... And that just doesn't qualify with me when the overall testing scores are sub-par.