BY JEFF BRANSCOME
Stafford County students who live a mile or less from school may walk instead of riding the bus in the near future.
The division is considering infrastructure improvements near several elementary and middle schools--such as adding sidewalks, paths, crosswalks and signs --so more kids can walk or bicycle to class.
As a result, Stafford schools Chief Facilities Officer Scott Horan said bus service could be eliminated in those areas. However, some parents have safety concerns with children walking to school.
Horan said he expects some of the improvements to be in the division's travel plan. The School Board is scheduled to review the plan at its meeting Oct. 27 and approve it in November.
The division hopes to pay for the projects with grants from the federally funded Safe Routes to School Program. Administrators plan to apply for the money in December.
The school system has proposed improvements near 12 schools: Rocky Run, Kate Waller Barrett, Hampton Oaks, Garrisonville, Rockhill, Park Ridge, Falmouth and Anthony Burns elementary schools; and Rodney Thompson, Gayle, A.G. Wright and H.H. Poole middle schools.
The school system's Web site originally said the proposals would expand or establish areas without bus service.
But Horan said he recently learned that the division can receive Safe Routes to School grants even if it doesn't eliminate bus stops. The program's purpose is to encourage healthy lifestyles.
At the earliest, Stafford would make infrastructure improvements over the summer. The School Board could then consider doing away with bus service, but Horan said such a decision is at least a year away.
Some students who attend Park Ridge, Hampton Oaks and Kate Waller Barrett elementary schools and Gayle and Rodney Thompson middle schools already do not receive bus service because they live too close to school. The division may expand no-bus zones for those schools after the proposed infrastructure improvements.
Separately, the school system might consider additional no-bus zones next year as a cost-saving measure, but Horan said it will have nothing to do with the Safe Routes to School Program.
Nationally, an increasing number of school systems are dropping bus stops to save money.
About 23 percent of school districts surveyed by the American Association of School Administrators say they are reducing or eliminating school transportation for 2009-10. That's up from 14 percent last year.
Sharon Deveney, vice president of Rocky Run Elementary School's Parent-Teacher Organization, says she has several concerns with making students walk, including safety and inconveniencing working parents.
"We don't allow kids out for recess when the weather is too extreme," she wrote in an e-mail. "We should not have them walking to school in such temperatures or conditions either."
Jeff Branscome: 540/374-5402
Email: jbranscome@freelancestar.com
Chief Facilities Officer Scott Horan hosted informational meetings this week at several schools. More meetings on the Safe Routes to School Program are scheduled for next week. A. G. Wright Middle School, Monday at 6:30 p.m. Parents of students from Garrisonville and Rockhill elementary schools are also invited to attend. H. H. Poole Middle School, Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. Park Ridge Elementary, Tuesday at 7 p.m. Falmouth Elementary, Thursday at 6:30 p.m. |