topic Re: Opinions Please in Community Chat

Opinions Please

Goodie2shoes — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 03:57:03 GMT

165 High school students from just outside of St. Louis went to Washington DC for the right to life march on a chartered bus. They left 2 hrs early to return home so they could get out of the path of the snowstorm but ended up getting trapped on the Penn Turnpike for 24 hrs in the snowstorm. They just got back home today , all safe and sound thank goodness. The parents and church were aware of the snow storm of course but they went anyway. I would not have let my child go on that trip knowing the warnings for this huge dangerous snowstorm. I know they need to explore and grow but I think the risk was to high. I'm sure the parents were very nervous until they saw their children were home safe. What's your opinion?

Re: Opinions Please

Puzzle Piece — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 04:00:10 GMT

I don'thave children or never had children. My choice.

Re: Opinions Please

Allegheny — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 04:13:46 GMT

If I was a parent, I would not have let my child go. There were groups from Pennsylvania who had planned to attend and they cancelled because of the impending storm.

Re: Opinions Please

Libbylady — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 05:43:19 GMT

No thinking parent would have sent their child on such a trip and those in charge should be spanked.

I have doubted the brain power of such groups anyway.

Re: Opinions Please

Kachina624 — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 05:46:36 GMT

Id say the trip planners used very poor judgment in allowing it to go forward in light of the impending weather conditions.

I suppose the kids were in constant contact with their parents on their cell phones but I would have worried about road conditions.

Re: Opinions Please

hckynutjohn — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 07:20:16 GMT

We have no human children, however, that does not exclude me from having an opinion, and since that is the title of this thread?

I have too much respect for big and bad winter storms and ain't nothing out there in this world that is important enough for me to gamble my well being versus a killer winter storm?

Something I would not do myself, there is no way I would let any children, in my care, get on a bus to who knows what.

You asked for opinions and that is mine.

hckynut(john)

Re: Opinions Please

millieshops — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 08:15:46 GMT

There was a whole thread here as we built toward that storm in which almost all the posters said there was too much media hype about the storm - the underlying message of the posts seemed to be that the storm wouldn't be as bad as they were making it out to be. Maybe those parents felt the same way those posters here did.

And thanks be to heaven that the storm which was every bit as bad or worse than those media warnings left that bus load of kids alive and well. Some families were not so lucky.

Re: Opinions Please

Pook — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 09:35:44 GMT

I definitely would not have deemed the trip so important that I would have let my child/children go and risk their lives!!!! I also think those in charge should not have kept going and should have found a place for the group to stay and ride out the storm when it became obvious that the storm was not going to let up. Many bus companies refused to take groups out knowing the storm was predicted. I also think that the PA turnpike and major highways should have been closed down until the snow eased up so this would not have happened. It seems so many don't have the common sense to just stay put and insist on forging ahead - no matter what!!!

Re: Opinions Please

qualitygal — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 10:06:19 GMT

@Goodie2shoes wrote:
165 High school students from just outside of St. Louis went to Washington DC for the right to life march on a chartered bus. They left 2 hrs early to return home so they could get out of the path of the snowstorm but ended up getting trapped on the Penn Turnpike for 24 hrs in the snowstorm. They just got back home today , all safe and sound thank goodness. The parents and church were aware of the snow storm of course but they went anyway. I would not have let my child go on that trip knowing the warnings for this huge dangerous snowstorm. I know they need to explore and grow but I think the risk was to high. I'm sure the parents were very nervous until they saw their children were home safe. What's your opinion?

As long as all is well and everyone is safe now, I'd say, everyone needs to rethink this for a next time. Glad all is well. Too late now.

Re: Opinions Please

sunshine&rainbows — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 10:20:38 GMT

@Goodie2shoes wrote:
165 High school students from just outside of St. Louis went to Washington DC for the right to life march on a chartered bus. They left 2 hrs early to return home so they could get out of the path of the snowstorm but ended up getting trapped on the Penn Turnpike for 24 hrs in the snowstorm. They just got back home today , all safe and sound thank goodness. The parents and church were aware of the snow storm of course but they went anyway. I would not have let my child go on that trip knowing the warnings for this huge dangerous snowstorm. I know they need to explore and grow but I think the risk was to high. I'm sure the parents were very nervous until they saw their children were home safe. What's your opinion?

I am a worry wart, and very protective of my son, so I would want us all to be at home and safe.

There will be another safe time to do this.

Take care of yourself so you can take care of others ~ sunshine&rainbows

Re: Opinions Please

Nataliesgramma — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 10:42:15 GMT

Common sense isn't so common anymore.....BAD decision

Re: Opinions Please

Perkup — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 13:50:43 GMT

A group from here in S.E. Louoisiana left by bus before the storm. They spent two full days heading for DC. When they got there the storm was beginning and it finally occured to someone that they should probably get back home. They did, and spent two more full days heading for New Orleans again. Four days on a bus - kids who were chosen to make this trip spent four days of their school year on a bus to nowhere. Why didn't someone in authority go to the Weather Channel and see what was about to happen in DC?

Apparently common sense is missing in all parts of the country.

Re: Opinions Please

nunya — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 14:00:36 GMT

I don't know if those who were stuck were just trying to beat the storm or what. But obviously not familiar with the PA Turnpike to know better. Once you are on, the exits are few are far between, and mountainous roads for miles.

Re: Opinions Please

brii — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 14:23:19 GMT

It doesn't seem like a smart move to head out in the path of a storm...

Re: Opinions Please

IamMrsG — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 16:34:14 GMT

Weather aside, this march seems totally inappropriate for school students' participation. So there's the primary reason my child would not attend. The weather would have been the secondary reason, but it certainly would have been a reason.

Edited to correct an error.

Re: Opinions Please

AngusandBuddhasMom — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 14:38:13 GMT

I know our church had a bus going not sure if they actually went. And heck no I would not let my kid go.

They should of postponed it or cancelled it.

Re: Opinions Please

Lipstickdiva — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 14:40:01 GMT

These were high school students so I see nothing inappropriate with these school children attending such a march.

I do see a big problem with them heading out into a storm that everyone knew was coming. I wouldn't have let my child attend. Churches and schools in the Cleveland area were set to go also but it was all cancelled. There was a service in downtown Cleveland that ended up with a much larger attendance than expected because many who were supposed to go to DC came to the service instead.

Re: Opinions Please

Mominohio — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 15:22:27 GMT

I, too, think that having high school students, who support some type of program, policy or philosophy, exercise their first amendment rights to be heard, to make a difference in something they find important, to be a good thing. The trip, regardless of their view (side) or their topic, allowing them to have access to our nation's capital, is a very valuable learning experience at this age.

But, going out, knowing the storm possibilities as they were forecast well in advance, was not a smart move by the organizers, the parents, the bus lines that transported them, or the students themselves. Somewhere in that chain of people who had to approve/provide transportation/give permission, someone should have come up with a little common sense and pulled the plug on the whole thing.

Thankfully all ended well, but it just as easily could have gone the other way. As a parent, my child would not have participated, simply because of the weather forecast and possibility of danger on the roads.

Re: Opinions Please

goldensrbest — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 15:30:18 GMT

The trip should had been cancelled.

Re: Opinions Please

ChynnaBlue — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 15:38:36 GMT

As near as I can tell, right to life groups only care about a life before it's born. They seem very hypocritical. I've never seen the right to life people at rallies against the dealth penalty, rallies to protect healthcare, rallies to fund education, programs to help children, or to help the homeless or anything else.

They don't care about those kids on the bus, they only care that those kids show up and be seen serving their needs.