Young kids hardest hit
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 5, 2001
Nearly every elementary school student within Albert Lea’s city limits will be disqualified from bus service next year, the school district said Tuesday.
Wednesday, December 05, 2001
Nearly every elementary school student within Albert Lea’s city limits will be disqualified from bus service next year, the school district said Tuesday.
To save money, the district will change its busing rules, stipulating that all students must live farther than two miles from their school to ride the bus. The vast majority of students at Albert Lea’s four elementary schools live within a two-mile radius of their school, said Bruce Olson, the district’s facilities and transportation director.
A few areas will still get bus service because they are bused to a school that is not the closest to their home; others will get an exemption because walking to school would be hazardous due to fast-moving traffic or lack of sidewalks. &uot;There will be pockets here and there,&uot; Olson said.
At the elementary level, 408 students live farther than one mile from their school but closer than two miles, Olson said. This year and in the past, elementary students could take the bus if they lived farther than a mile from school.
Junior-high students will have to follow the new rule at the start of the second semester of this school year, which starts Jan. 21. Eighty-five middle schoolers who now can ride the bus will be disqualified, Olson said. Their current minimum busing distance is 1.5 miles.
The district will start working immediately to notify parents of affected children. Waiting until next fall to implement the new rules for elementary students should give the district ample time to get the message to most parents.
Some, however, probably won’t learn of the changes until school starts next year, and the district will be prepared to deal with last-minute phone calls from parents, Olson said.
While the thought of elementary school students walking more than a mile to school made school board members cringe, Olson said most parents will probably arrange car pools or contract with the bus company individually so their kids can still ride.
&uot;Once they find out that their students won’t be eligible, they’ll make arrangements with the bus company, or they’ll car pool, or grandma or grandpa will take them,&uot; Olson said.
Many students within the two-mile radius already find some other way to school, Olson said. At least 59 of the 409 affected elementary students, for instance, don’t ride the bus now. And those who live closer than a mile commonly contract with the bus company to get their kids to school, he said.
That’s not to say Olson thinks the impact of the busing cuts will be light.
&uot;I’m really hoping that if we can get adequate funding from the state or voters or whatever, that we can implement the policy back to where it was,&uot; he said.
Albert Lea Bus Company, which does the district’s busing, will lose about $105,000 a year in business, Olson said.
&uot;Of course they’re concerned,&uot; Olson said.
A bus company representative declined to comment until the school district contacts the company with final specifics of the cuts.
Olson said that while the busing changes will hurt, the rest of the cuts – probably announced Dec. 17 – will be just as painful. The district will cut $1.1 million from its 2002-2003 budget.
&uot;I think most parents will understand, when they see the rest of the cuts, why we had to do this,&uot; Olson said.