Could Maryland School Busing be that Good?

The Washington Post ran an article today, picked up by MSNBC.com, that tells of an 18-year old high school senior who has never missed a day of school. Stefanie Zaner is known as the Iron Kid of Darnestown, a suburb of Baltimore where Cal Ripken Jr. set the Major League Baseball record for consecutive games played at 2,632.

Zaner, the article says, is approaching the likewise amazing milestone of 2,340 straight days of public school. She attends Northwest High School in Montgomery County. There must be something in the Maryland water. In addition to Ripken Jr.'s and Zaner's feats, the Post conducted an informal survey of 20 local school systems that turned up another graduating senior with perfect attendance since kindergarten (officially, 180 days a year, for 13 years, although the exact annual total hinges on snow days): Kristen Waddle, 18, of Brentsville District High School in Prince William County. Austin White of Mountain View High School in Stafford County hasn't missed a day since first grade.

It was not immediately known if the students had ever utilized school busing, but it appeared likely at some point they may have utilized the transportation service. The most recent data obtained from the Maryland Department of Education that 73 percent of the state's nearly 850,000 public school students take the yellow bus.