PHS provides mandatory bus to vo-tech

by Justin Renigar

As most of you may or may not know, the vo-tech bus is back at Pittsford. Those of you that go to the A.M. classes also know that the bus is mandatory. No matter where you live, even if you drive past your vo-tech center on the way to school, you still have to ride the bus.

PHS principal Mr. Cook wanted the mandatory bus in the interest of kids’ safety. “It gets the kids to school safe and on time,” said Mr. Cook. Last year there were a large number of absences and tardies with the vo-tech kids. There were also a few accidents that happened after the kids got out of vo-tech and were supposed to be on their way back to the school. “Kids were taking advantage of their driving privileges,” explained Mr. Cook. What he means by that is that last year some kids, instead of coming to school directly after vo-tech, would go into Hillsdale to go out to eat or just skip and go home instead of coming right to school. The bus solves those problems.

Even though all those things are true and the bus does stop a lot of problems, most vo-tech student think the bus should be optional and not mandatory. In fact, 24 out of 24 students asked to comment for this article all said that they think the bus should be optional. “Being forced to ride the bus makes me feel irresponsible,” commented senior Jake Richards. “The bus should only be used for kids with out a ride to vo-tech.”

The kids know what consequences they will face if they are tardy or skip, and most vo-tech kids think that if they want to make the choice and end up getting punished, then so be it. “If you drove to vo-tech last year without any problems and passed your classes, you should be able to drive this year,” opined senior Corey Gamble. However, this is an administrative decision at PHS and what the students say has no difference to the outcome of the situation. Like it or not, there is a bus and you vo-tech kids have to ride it.