Schools still wrestling with new busing schedule

More students than expected have registered to take the bus to school this year, despite the school district's hope that requiring certain students to "opt in" for bus service would streamline routes and save money.

Planners are still finalizing routes, but District 834 will likely have to create a couple of new ones - at least until the first few weeks of school have given them a better idea of where buses should stop, said school district Operations Director Dennis Bloom.

"Extra routes always means extra money, that's why we want to be very careful here," he said.

Still, the Stillwater school district should not need any more buses.

This year was the school district's first use of the new opt-in/opt-out busing system. District officials decided in May to require students at certain schools to register for bus service in advance. Students at Stillwater Area High School, St. Croix Preparatory Academy, St. Croix Catholic School and Salem Lutheran School all had to opt in.

The change was supposed to have been part of sweeping transportation update that - coupled with changes to school start times - could have saved the district $300,000 a year. Instead, the district decided to forgo changing school start times and limit changes to the comparatively modest registration requirement.

The new routes are partly needed because students cannot be on the bus more than an hour, Bloom said. Drivers did not have enough time to pick up students at multiple schools and drop them off within the allotted time.

Stillwater Area High School had 1,100 students register to ride the bus, which equates to about a 50-percent ridership rate, Bloom said. The school district expected 35-40 percent of the high school students (about 765 riders) to take the bus.

Those students won't necessarily all be on the bus, though. Officials advised parents to sign up for bus service if they were at all unsure about whether their children would ride the bus, Bloom said. For example, some parents weren't sure if the family car would be working when school started up again.

"Just because they're registered doesn't mean they're riding," Bloom said.

Elementary and junior high students were not required to register, but the district asked them to let the school district know if they would not be taking the bus. The district received notice that 358 elementary school students wouldn't be riding, along with 80 students from the junior highs, non-public schools and charter schools. Nearly 230 high school students also let the district know that they wouldn't be using the bus.

These notifications cut down on "a few (stops) here and there," Bloom said.

School board members declined to comment on the news because they hadn't yet had a chance to discuss it with district staff.

Bloom said he thinks the routes will be more efficient this year even with the extra students, and he'd like the board to consider requiring junior high students to opt in as well because plans are better when the district has accurate, up-to-date information.

---

James Warden covers education and the cities of Oak Park Heights and Lake Elmo for the Gazette. He can be reached by phone at 651-796-1111.

To comment on this story visit www.stillwatergazette.com.

Current Rating: 0 of 0 votes!

Rate File: Select Rating: * ** *** ****