Michigan Mom Fights School District Rule That Says 7-Year-Old Can't Walk 3 Minutes Home From the Bus Stop

The superintendent blamed the “significant liability the district assumes whenever we are transporting students.”

Last year, Tali Smith's son Emmett walked himself home the four houses he lives from the school bus stop. He was six. The walk takes 3.5 minutes.

But this year, his suburban Michigan school will not let him do that—too risky.

The school district, Saline Area Schools, is newly enforcing a rule that says a parent or other adult must be waiting at the bus stop to escort anyone in kindergarten or first grade. Emmett is in first grade.

Though Smith not only believes Emmett can walk home himself on the nearly silent street, she has seen him do it for a year. But reality does not move a bureaucratic needle. "Other districts have less strict rules," including Ann Arbor, which is more urban and shares a border with her town, says Smith.

Unfortunately for Smith, Michigan has not yet passed a reasonable childhood independence law, unlike 11 other states. But a bill with bipartisan support is under consideration, sponsored by Sens. Jeff Irwin (D–Ann Arbor) and Ed McBroom (R–Marquette). Generally, these laws say "neglect" is when a child is put in obvious, serious danger—not anytime a parent takes their eyes off them. 

"Parents should be able to decide when their children are ready to take on more independence," Irwin says. "I am sponsoring legislation to clarify that parents may allow children to do reasonable activities on their own."

McBroom adds, "Parents should never have to worry that the state is going to punish them or take away their children for letting them do regular childhood activities like going to the park, or walking home from school."

Smith sent letters pleading with the superintendent to change the bus stop policy, or at least let her sign a waiver releasing the school from any liability. In one letter she wrote:

I am writing to address a policy that, while likely well-intentioned, goes against current research in child development and negatively impacts our children's independence and mental health. The rule disallows my 7-year-old son Emmett, a very responsible and well behaved 1st grader, from walking home alone from the neighborhood bus stop once or twice a week while his older brother has after school activities. 

We live in a very safe neighborhood with minimal traffic where Emmett has been allowed to walk, bike, and play alone, without incident, for years.

Smith even referenced one of my favorite stats: "A child is approximately 5 times more likely to be born with a conjoined twin than to be kidnapped by a stranger. Our fear of rare events is inhibiting our children from developing the resilience they need to thrive….Walking home for 3 minutes is not something to fear."

Superintendent Rachel Kowalski replied, in part:

From what I understand, our bus stop policy is longstanding and, while I understand it may feel restrictive in your situation, it is in place because of the significant liability the district assumes whenever we are transporting students. Our legal counsel advises us on best practices to have in place to support collective student safety. This policy is aligned with practices I have seen in every district I have been part of and is grounded in our responsibility to ensure consistency and safety for all students. By holding to this policy, we are anchoring it in the legal and safety responsibilities the district is required to uphold once students are on and off our buses.

Irwin says the school is misinterpreting Michigan's liability laws. "School administrators are severely limiting this family's choices based on a misunderstanding that the district might be liable if the child were harmed. In fact, Michigan provides broad immunity for schools even in cases of clear negligence. Letting a child walk a few yards at the request of their parents simply does not put the district at risk."  

At my request, Smith photographed the walk home from the bus stop. Here it is:

Tali Smith

Tali Smith

Tali Smith

At this point, says Smith, "I've lost the bus battle."

The day she threw in the towel she had her son wear a T-shirt that said, "You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right." It's a quote from another bus freedom activist: Rosa Parks.

Comments

[Chumby]

End all coerced taxpayer money going to the educational industrial complex and these issues resolve themselves.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

It looks like a dangerous neighborhood.

[Chumby]

By showing the street signs, Lenore just helped dox them. Won’t be surprised if Pluggo is already booking a trip there.

[Longtobefree]

I see room for 17 white vans to hide - - - - - - -

[JohnZ]

My thoughts exactly....totally ghetto.

[Longtobefree]

His mom should claim disability and insist the kid walking is a reasonable accommodation; and/or claim the kid identifies as a third grade female.

[vaadu]

Why does the school district have any say here?

The school nanny's authority should not extend beyond the bus stop to the school or school to the bus stop.

[JohnZ]

The rise of the "nanny State" run by moral scolds.

[StevenF]

IF the child walking from the bus stop to his home exposes the school to liability, the way to reduce said liability is to have a bus stop closer to the child's home.

[JohnZ]

Every kid in town walked to school when I was there. The only ones who rode the bus were out of the village.
Nobody was kidnapped, shot, stabbed, raped or robbed or assaulted.
Detroit was 400 miles away.

[Davy C]

It takes the kid 3.5 minutes to walk that short distance?

[Stcrispy]

They have shorter legs when they're seven.

[Stephen Lathrop]

Make it a point to notice when you are out driving, kindergarten kids, and first graders, hit the ground running when they get off a school bus. They may be alert and well-drilled on traffic hazards, but they are destined to remain clueless for years about driver sight lines.

The principal hazard to a youngster getting off a school bus is not likely found along the way home. It is the bus itself, and the way the bus hides kids getting off from the cars of drivers impatient to get moving again, after being delayed by school bus lights.

A nightmare scenario happens when a kid's home is behind the bus stop, and on the other side of the street. The kid gets off the bus with a crowd of others, who cross in front while the driver watches carefully. The one kid whose home is behind the bus runs down the right side of the bus toward the back, then turns to cross the street behind the bus—out of the visual coverage provided for bus drivers by mirrors or cameras—even the best designed systems can be obscured by shadow, sun glare, darkness, or a plume of bus exhaust in cold weather. Plus which, school bus windows, except for the windshield, typically fog completely in cold humid weather, just like would happen to your car if it were chock full of passengers—but in this case it's likely 40-plus passengers.

Thus, school bus drivers become accustomed to driving all winter with no better outside visibility than afforded in the cab of a tractor trailer rig. Which means no visibility at all close-in and directly behind.

As at other times, in those conditions, the kid knows the bus holds the traffic until it doesn't, so he/she bolts to cross the street as soon as possible. Likely just as the driver, seeing all the other kids safe, checks the right side mirror, seeing no one, and releases oncoming traffic by closing the bus door and turning off the bus lights. At that moment the kid pops from behind the bus into view of an accelerating driver who has only a split second to hit the brakes to save the kid's life.

That happens all the time. Sooner or later every experienced school bus driver sees it. And the bus driver and the district will be held strictly liable every time if the worst happens, which thankfully it usually doesn't. It is the bus driver's invariable responsibility to know where every kid who gets off goes, and to not release stopped traffic until all kids are safe and out of the street. Car drivers are very impatient about delays that responsibility creates.

So never mind that sometimes car drivers jump the bus lights, or don't even slow for them, and will certainly lie about that if trouble happens. Never mind that there may not be a sidewalk or shoulder on the road—AS IN THE CASE SHOWN BY THE PHOTOGRAPHS.

This is Michigan. In winter, that behind-the-bus scenario may play out in fading evening light, with the kid trapped on the road by continuous snow berms along both sides, put there by snow plows. Icy road conditions make braking ineffective. A car skidding between a snow berm on its right, and a school bus on its left will likely continue straight ahead and hit the kid a second or two after the car driver first sees the kid.

Note that a parent there to meet the kid getting off the bus makes all that horror go away. The kid heads for the parent, every time. The parent supervises the street crossing.

In fairness, that is not a hazard anyone can expect even a responsible parent to anticipate in detail. It would not be reasonable to call irresponsible the parent advocating in this case. But it absolutely is reasonable to protect that parent and her child from tragic possibilities neither she nor her child can be expected to understand.

I have written at length because this is a case where it might do some good.

[agarrett]

When you say that happens 'all the time,' do you have numbers? How often has it happened in the last year, for instance? I ask because, while your scenario sounds both possible and frightening, it is not something I've actually seen or heard of happening in reality. I'll add I'm old enough to have walked home from school myself, and again, not something I've heard of.