Some students in Loudoun County, Virginia, are being dropped off at school earlier just to sit around and wait in silence for class to start.
Bus 160 is picking up some Sanders Corner Elementary School students 20 minutes earlier this year so it can drop them off with time left to pick up another load of kids. It’s called double busing.
The first group is dropped off about 7:10 a.m. and the second just before first bell at 7:50 a.m.
Nathan Krantz, a father of early pickup students, said getting his children ready 20 minutes earlier requires a lot more effort, and it doesn’t quite make sense to him.
“They’re required to sit there, crisscross-applesauce, and wait unit class starts,” he said.
“They’re not allowed to really talk with their friends or anything like that,” mother Rachel Bruley said. “They have to literally stay in their grade level.”
Loudoun County Public Schools spokesman Wayde Byard said they’ve listened to parents’ concerns.
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“We’ve adjusted, as of today, the pickup times by 10 minutes,” he said. ”That’ll push it back a little bit. The principal’s opening up the classrooms a little earlier so students don’t have to wait in the multi-purpose room. They can go to their classrooms and start their day.”
Which is additional responsibility for teachers.
“A little, but teachers sacrifice,” Byard said. “That’s what they do for a living. They’re there early, they’re there late, they want their students to be comfortable so they have their classrooms open.”
