Transporting Children

[KnoxMom]

Do any of you transport children from a local elementary school in your area? Pros/Cons and all advice welcome!

My son will be starting preschool in August and they let out at 1 PM. I'm considering hiring an assistant or personal car service to pick up and it might give me a chance to enroll some of his classmates. There is only one daycare in the area that picks up from there and they have a poor star rating...they just don't have any competition w/ transportation so they always stay full!

[rmc20021]

Do any of you transport children from a local elementary school in your area? Pros/Cons and all advice welcome!

My son will be starting preschool in August and they let out at 1 PM. I'm considering hiring an assistant or personal car service to pick up and it might give me a chance to enroll some of his classmates. There is only one daycare in the area that picks up from there and they have a poor star rating...they just don't have any competition w/ transportation so they always stay full!

I don't transport this time around doing daycare, but when I did daycare when my kids were little I definitely transported to/from school. I met a few friends there who are still friends today (my daughter is 23 yo) and I also got some of my dcf from the school.

I made it a point to always hang around as long as I could before and after class to socialize/meet the other parents (I'd feel silly doing that today since I'm so much older than the preschool parent's)

The previous time when I did daycare though, I lived two blocks away and there wasn't as much of an issue with transporting dck's...even by walking so I'd take the kids with me when counts were low. Once I had more kids, I had someone come in for a couple hours per day to help while I transported my own kids

[Little Star75]

I do transport I don't currently have any dck needing transportation but as far as transporting to field trips, yes I do and all parents have a form on file and are happy with my services.happyface

[Starburst]

At the FCC I used to work at (she had a large family daycare), the owner usually had an assistant who would walk the kids to the FCC from school. She had one assistant who would drive them to school in the morning (before her morning college classes) but she usually walked them to the daycare from school unless it was raining, the school was down the street from her house (the college was a few blocks down). one time when she was training me on what to do for pick ups we took all the daycare kids (about 9 kids all under the age of 5) to pick up the 1/2 day kindergarteners. Mostly it was to show me where to pick them up and to introduce me to the yard duty people to show them that I was with the daycare.

Usually around these times she would have two assistants on staff but if she only had one assistant and would be over ratio otherwise, she will let one or two of the older preschoolers go with the assistant to pick up the kindergarteners (or a baby in a stroller). Towards the end of nap time her before/after school assistant would pick up the older SAKs on her way to work, if she couldn't come in that day, than she would send one of her assistants who was there during nap time to pick up the older SAKs.

[itlw8]

You really need special ins to do that. Our ins company made me sign a waiver stating I would never transport childcare children They will not cover if I do.

I believe State Farm has a policy to cover transportation

[AmyKidsCo]

I don't transport at all. Not only does it interrupt our routine, as the time it was needed always seems to fall right during a meal or nap time, but WI licensing regulations are more than what I want to deal with. Oh yeah, and both our vehicles are in use during the day so we'd have to buy another car.

[Play Care]

I transport kids to my local preschool. This is a HUGE draw for parents in my area. I do have an assistant so the only kids who *usually* take the ride are the ones who are attending the school, however if my assistant can't come, then we all take the (short) ride. Most parents realize that one hand washes the other and agree to allow their kids to be transported because they know when their turn comes they won't have to worry that their kids won't be able to go. I am actually getting a child in the Fall because her current provider does not transport to preschool.

I have a separate preschool contract which covers what I will do, what I won't do, etc.

[Unregistered]

You really need special ins to do that. Our ins company made me sign a waiver stating I would never transport childcare children They will not cover if I do.

I believe State Farm has a policy to cover transportation

I don't transport either as our ins co will charge us around $200.00 a year more to have ins to cover if I take the kids out in my car. I only care for 3 kids in my home daycare, but they still will charge that much. Also I don't transport or do field trips because I want to keep the kids as safe as I can while not in their parents care and taking them out in my car on the freeways is something I am not comfortable doing. Most of the parents I have found really appreciate me not taking their child out and really don't want their child out on the freeways or even to go short distances.

[BumbleBee]

Since the local elementary school is 4 blocks away we walk to p/u the SA.

However, if it was further away and/or there were highways/freeways/etc I would either not take SA or look and see what the bussing situation was.

Personally, I wouldn't transport bc my car is to small (can only seat 3), the insurance would double, and I don't trust my car as it's in horrible shape.

It depends on the individual provider though. Do what is best and works for you and your business.

[williams2008]

I don't now. When I did transport I did morning/evening drop offs/pick ups at elementary/headstarts. I've had a few calls for that service, so I may be starting back next school term, not to mention that's where I made the majority of my money at!

[Willow]

I called the school and asked if they had a transportation service for preschoolers. They had a van but only used it for local drop offs and I was out in the county.

I told them that was fine, I'd just start doing pre-k curriculum and all the kids that come into my daycare can just wait until kindy to start there. Enrollment is slim pickins for them as it is so thinking about just how many kids were going to funnel through here over the years got them to change their tune. I have a morning pre-ker who rides the bus in with my kids, then gets brought back by the school van, at which point my afternoon pre-ker rides the van to school and then takes the bus home with my kids at the end of the day.

Is there any way you could negotiate something like that with the administration? I went to the principal directly and she was very pro-active in helping me sort out a solution.

[MarinaVanessa]

I voted yes because at the moment I do have 2 preschool age DCK's and a Kindergartener that I pick up from a local school. I also pick up my own DD from school and I take all of the kids with me.

However as of the end of this school year (June 6th for us) I will no longer be providing transportation to or from school and that is including my own DD. It takes up a lot of time. It takes about an hour and a half out of my day to load them all up, buckle them in, drive to locations, unload the kids, go to the child's class to get them, load the kids back in, drive back etc. I make a total of 3 trips a day.

I decided I didn't want to waste this time anymore so I won't be doing it anymore BUT I will continue to drive the kids when I have the space (if I am not full because I only have room for 7 passengers) to go on field trips and outings etc. These will be planned in advance and I will decide if, when and where we go so I don't mind so much (all of my DCP's are okay with me driving).

[momofboys]

I have always transported but I have SA kids of my own & when I started doing childcare my oldest had started 1st grade & a family I took on liked that I transported as their kids attended the same school. We only live @ 1 1/4 miles from the school. There are bussing options & my kids ride the bus part of the time however my youngest son is in PK & there is no bussing for that. Since I only care for 1-2 families at the time (& don't plan to ever care for more than 3-4 daycare kids at a time) transporting is very important for me. Financially it would make no sense for me to hire someone to transport & when my own son was in PK this year they do not provide bussing for that. All my families are okay with me transporting & it is what works for me!

[momofboys]

I voted yes because at the moment I do have 2 preschool age DCK's and a Kindergartener that I pick up from a local school. I also pick up my own DD from school and I take all of the kids with me.

However as of the end of this school year (June 6th for us) I will no longer be providing transportation to or from school and that is including my own DD. It takes up a lot of time. It takes about an hour and a half out of my day to load them all up, buckle them in, drive to locations, unload the kids, go to the child's class to get them, load the kids back in, drive back etc. I make a total of 3 trips a day. I decided I didn't want to waste this time anymore so I won't be doing it anymore BUT I will continue to drive the kids when I have the space (if I am not full because I only have room for 7 passengers) to go on field trips and outings etc. These will be planned in advance and I will decide if, when and where we go so I don't mind so much (all of my DCP's are okay with me driving).

Wowza - I would do the same if I were you!!! :-) For me transporting is easy as we are only about 1 mile or so from school - I will make my own SA kids ride home on the bus next year when I don't have any PK runs (it is easier for me to only do 1 trip a day even with fewer kids). I can understand how disruptive/time-consuming it can be.

[momofboys]

I called the school and asked if they had a transportation service for preschoolers. They had a van but only used it for local drop offs and I was out in the county.

I told them that was fine, I'd just start doing pre-k curriculum and all the kids that come into my daycare can just wait until kindy to start there. Enrollment is slim pickins for them as it is so thinking about just how many kids were going to funnel through here over the years got them to change their tune. I have a morning pre-ker who rides the bus in with my kids, then gets brought back by the school van, at which point my afternoon pre-ker rides the van to school and then takes the bus home with my kids at the end of the day.

Is there any way you could negotiate something like that with the administration? I went to the principal directly and she was very pro-active in helping me sort out a solution.

At our local school transportation for PK-age kids is only provided if the child has an IEP/special education needs.