school busing

[wheresmymoney!]

I tell ya, all I've been reading on this website is a lot of back-and-forth, and people posting articles that they've read in a newspaper or website. I think that's a shame! The silence is most damaging, I think it's a shame that since March 13 we haven't gotten anything official from Pioneer or our union. Not even a letter from Pioneer telling us to please stay put and stay patient we're gonna need you when we go back to work. Even a little something to put us at rest.Send us a reassuring email of any sort, because I'm sure I'm like the rest of you, extremely stressed out and unsure about our future. Somebody say something, we are knee-deep in August and not a word.

I think once Cuomo makes his decision tomorrow you'll see a domino affect and we will be flooded with emails and calls of what to do and what is going to be expected

i need to correct you on this one the last time we heard from them was on April 30th to tell us we were losing everything.

[OMG]

True, I stand corrected.

[steady]

If schools don't open this September you can also kiss a pensionable year away.  You need to accumulate 1,000 working hours by the end of the school year ie:Sept.-June.  The 1000 hours  we need to accumulate starting in Sept. ends around March 15th. If school start 3-4 months later you can kiss 1 year toward your pension goodbye.  The bad part is that when we do work we still pay toward our pension with no personal benefit.

[steady]

I'm not happy with the way our union operates but Andy did give us an update July 31

[Hammer2161]

Would it matter if the union or pioneer updated us ? I mean honestly does anyone truly think you would be more at ease or even possibly satisfied with what they tell us. The truth is unfortunately they have absolutely nothing to tell us because the city has yet to tell anyone anything. I had a conversation with a vice principal yesterday and she informed me that her school has yet to get together to formulate a plan should school open in September. And she stated that the reason for that is they have yet to be given any guidance from the city. I hope I am wrong but I doubt we will be happy after Cuomo makes his statement tomorrow.

[OMG]

Well, it's called leadership. During a crisis you don't let your people sit for months panicking and wondering wtf is going on. You step up to the plate and keep your people informed, tell them anything. You don't let months go by when peoples lives are at stake, send out an email every so often letting us know how hard your working for us, put a letter in the mailbox. Anything!  That's what leaders do

[Hammer2161]

I am not saying there should not have been more communication. But what I am asking is would it have really mattered. Every time Buzz posted something he was passing on from a conversation he had with Ernie he was somewhat attacked. Nothing that has been posted here seems to have been able to pacify the masses. There has been plenty of information posted on this site to both try and answer questions and also to pass along information and yet a lot of us are still angry and upset and yes that may be rightfully so. But the real reason most of us are angry and upset is because we are in a terrible situation which doesn't appear to be getting better any time soon. I truly wish the answers were much simpler but there not and unfortunately the situation sucks. But the truth is we do not have great leadership or communication in the best of times why would anyone expect it to be better now.

[Buzz]

I am not saying there should not have been more communication. But what I am asking is would it have really mattered. Every time Buzz posted something he was passing on from a conversation he had with Ernie he was somewhat attacked.

Thank you for that. 

Honestly, I do think, just to make us feel somewhat connected, Michael could issue an "update" every now and then, even if it's to tell us there's nothing new to tell us.

[Hammer2161]

Buzz I totally agree, there most certainly should have been much more communication between Pioneer 1181 and us. But to be honest I truly don't think it would have made much of a difference. Unfortunately these are very difficult times for millions and millions of people. The truth is and you know it when everyone was receiving the extra 600 from unemployment they were less stressed. I understand and appreciate everyone's frustration but to your credit you have tried your best to keep everyone as informed as you possibly could. I myself have tried to post things that hopefully helped some but it's a tough battle because everyone deals with these uncertainties differently. I continue to hope for the best for everyone involved.

[PROUD MEMBER]

What Michael did or didn't do is all in the past and doesn't make a difference. The extra $600 is in the past and even though financially it helped out it didn't take away any stress at least from my standpoint. Now I just pray that General Ed busing is not discontinued. As I have stated before with the amount of children opting for a five day remote learning and with two and three day alternating in school learning there will be plenty of room for social distancing on the school buses. I just hope that the powers to be at the Mayor's Office and the BOE realize this and that Micheal gets involved or is involved in promoting this. Also I pray that Micheal does not get ridiculous with safety precautions in order for us to return to work which could possibly have a reverse effect. Obviously we all see from this site and other sites that the overwhelming majority of us want to return to work. I for one feel that just using my common sense along with social distancing and masks and disinfecting the buses will be ample for the safety of ourselves and the children on the buses.

[Buzz]

Now I just pray that General Ed busing is not discontinued.

According to a Post article about a month ago, of 150,000 kids transported, 52,000 are special ed. I'm thinking that to adhere to distancing guidelines (whatever they are) they would need to at least double ... possibly triple ... special ed runs. We may not be as bad off as it might seem right now, even if there is no regular ed.

Of course, this is assuming that there is school at all ... which I doubt.

[WigWag16]

Well I always said that I think to would be a domino affect once he gave the green light. He wants final plans by August 21st so I'm assuming between August 14-21 is when you'll hear all the full detailed plans once they pass the board of health. We are lucky because we work in SI and those districts(parents) want schools to go back so we don't have a to worry about the other districts. I think now that he made the announcement is when well hopefully we should be hearing from pioneer soon regarding the city take over or returning back to work in general

[yabba]

Now I just pray that General Ed busing is not discontinued.

According to a Post article about a month ago, of 150,000 kids transported, 52,000 are special ed. I'm thinking that to adhere to distancing guidelines (whatever they are) they would need to at least double ... possibly triple ... special ed runs. We may not be as bad off as it might seem right now, even if there is no regular ed.

Of course, this is assuming that there is school at all ... which I doubt.

im with Buzz.. i think we will see special ed only and many more runs also...  these parents have been begging for schools to open since may...these poor kids really need in class instructions..so i think you will see a large numbers of parents choose in room learning... and the walk on vans i think will be useless with social distancing and say 14 kids on a big bus can lead to many more runs...  also fingers crossed on staying below the 3% infection rate 

[Buzz]

I'm not really sure if the majority of parents are in favor of returning to the classroom. Many ore worried about safety. Also, 2 or 3 days a week plays havoc with their work schedules. Hard to establish a routine. Feel sorry for parents of school aged children, it's not going to be easy any way they go.

[PROUD MEMBER]

According to dumb Blasio 75% of 400,000 parents surveyed want to return to brick & mortar