In most school districts, students who live closer than half a mile or a mile away do not get a school bus, and are expected to walk to school. Ask why it's ok for the schools to expect him to walk a mile to get to school, but once he's there, he can't walk 100 yards.
It is great to ask and have the school articulate their position, as then parents can work on overcoming objections. In the meanwhile, it may be safe to anticipate an answer along the lines that the school is not responsible for how a child arrives (car, bicycle, walking, etc) but is responsible for the child on school property, while school is in session.
Our elementary school also is exactly one track/football field from the middle school. You can see the math classroom from the elementary principal's office.
The solution is that DS (and DD before him) take a full sized yellow bus. The kid and the bus driver are the only occupants of the bus. It's the most rediculous thing to watch.
Can't they walk themselves? No, the school is responsible for them and can't let them out on public streets alone. What if something were to happen (this has got to be the safest community there is. We have theft from car issues because no one will lock their cars....)
Can't they walk with an aide? The answer gets weird here. I hear about bad weather, scheduling, availability, etc.
So they take a bus.
My guess on the bus vs the aide is that it came down to one of two things: their don't want to have to ask an aide to walk half a mile (round trip) if it's raining or cold OR the money for the bus comes out of a different budget than the aides. I'm actually partial to the latter reason.
