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Post by 19delta on Jun 9, 2009 7:32:10 GMT -6
Fellas -
I'm a coach at a fairly large urban high school. Something we are struggling with is transportation for kids. The school district has four high schools and enrollment is open, meaning that there aren't any "neighborhood" schools. The result is that our kids come from all over the city (again, a fairly large city of about 155,000).
Also, most of our kids are low income and few have vehicles. We have moved all of the summer activities to the evening to try and accommodate that fact but we still have a handful of kids who simply don't have dependable transportation to and from school.
We do have a "pride points" system in place to encourage kids to show up to summer functions.
Here's some of the possible resolutions we are going to bring up at our parent/player meeting:
1) Public transportation (kids can ride a bus for $.75 per route)
2) Car pooling with other parents/players
3) Awarding extra points to players who are willing to transport kids in outlying areas.
4) Making only 2 days a week "mandatory" (we will only base summer attendance off Tuesday and Thursday. Monday and Friday will be "bonus" days).
Anything else you guys can think of?
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Post by jpdaley25 on Jun 9, 2009 8:51:33 GMT -6
I spend about 2 hours a day on most days going to get them and bringing them home. I've done that my whole career. When I was young I had a kid who lived 1.5 hours away. Took him home everyday - just part of it. You can write your mileage off on your taxes.
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Post by phantom on Jun 9, 2009 9:06:00 GMT -6
Fellas - I'm a coach at a fairly large urban high school. Something we are struggling with is transportation for kids. The school district has four high schools and enrollment is open, meaning that there aren't any "neighborhood" schools. The result is that our kids come from all over the city (again, a fairly large city of about 155,000). Also, most of our kids are low income and few have vehicles. We have moved all of the summer activities to the evening to try and accommodate that fact but we still have a handful of kids who simply don't have dependable transportation to and from school. We do have a "pride points" system in place to encourage kids to show up to summer functions. Here's some of the possible resolutions we are going to bring up at our parent/player meeting: 1) Public transportation (kids can ride a bus for $.75 per route) 2) Car pooling with other parents/players 3) Awarding extra points to players who are willing to transport kids in outlying areas. 4) Making only 2 days a week "mandatory" (we will only base summer attendance off Tuesday and Thursday. Monday and Friday will be "bonus" days). Anything else you guys can think of? How far away do they live? |
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Post by 19delta on Jun 9, 2009 9:08:52 GMT -6
I spend about 2 hours a day on most days going to get them and bringing them home. I've done that my whole career. When I was young I had a kid who lived 1.5 hours away. Took him home everyday - just part of it. You can write your mileage off on your taxes. JP- This is what we were doing for the spring but it is no longer possible due to liability issues for the district. |
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Post by 19delta on Jun 9, 2009 9:16:19 GMT -6
How far away do they live? A couple of kids live on the far north side of town which is a solid 20 minute ride by car. A little over 6 miles away. |
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Post by fbdoc on Jun 9, 2009 9:17:59 GMT -6
Just an idea - maybe your coaches (or captains) could hold workouts at some designated satellite sites that kids in an area could attend.
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Post by jpdaley25 on Jun 9, 2009 12:22:29 GMT -6
Sorry 19Delta. There's not much else you can do other than what you have listed. Maybe you can get a system bus driver to volunteer and use a school bus to go get them. You might pull it off if football pays for the gas.
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Post by airraider on Jun 9, 2009 12:33:47 GMT -6
I have the same problem.. Rural school.. made up for 4 different communities.. Some kids come from as far as 30 miles.. the kids who live the closest are around 3 miles away..
We practice on Tue and Thur at 6.. with weightlifting before practice at 5.
We hold informal throw days on Mon and Wed..
The district used to pay for the activities bus, but not anymore.
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Post by coachguy83 on Jun 9, 2009 21:11:29 GMT -6
I would suggest holding some sort of a fundraiser and using the money to pay for the kids bus service, or is it at all possible for the students to get a free bus pass. I know the city closest to where I live the MTD is used as the school bus for a lot of kids and they are elgible for a free pass to use to get to and from school.
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Post by seagull73 on Jun 10, 2009 8:24:14 GMT -6
If it was a party they would find a way to get there. Putting kids in your car is a dangerous practice. We are told flat out not to do it.
If it is important to them they will get there. Think back to when you were a high school kid. Did you ever not go to something you really wanted to go to due to a lack of a ride?
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Post by poweriguy on Jun 16, 2009 18:29:04 GMT -6
Does the school have a 12/15 passenger van? Will they let you use it?
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Post by coachd5085 on Jun 16, 2009 18:36:31 GMT -6
IPutting kids in your car is a dangerous practice. We are told flat out not to do it. Exactly. This falls under the "no good deed goes unpunished" doctrine, as sometime, somewhere this will bite you in the a$$. Our society has become more and more fixated on assigning blame. It is ALWAYS someone's fault... Lightning bolt from god reaches out and strikes the kid on a clear day without a cloud in the sky.... and it is your fault. |
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Post by groundchuck on Jun 16, 2009 22:06:50 GMT -6
About the only thing I can add is we got the kids together and organized the car pools before they were out of school. Doesn't help you now, but maybe you could do it with a calling tree or something.
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Post by coachjd on Jun 17, 2009 4:47:20 GMT -6
we do the same thing as Chuck. Our district is spread out. We have 8 communities that go to school here, so planning for rides is huge, even during football season trying to make sure we can promise kids they will get a ride home. We have some kids that live 25-28 miles out and the parents are milking cows when practice is over so for their kid to play we need to find a way home for them.
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