Citizens express school transportation concerns 

Several citizens attended the School Board of Alachua County’s regular meeting on Tuesday to complain about new transportation policies that took effect this semester. They said the elimination of courtesy bus routes puts walking students in danger, and that many parents do not have time to drive or walk their children to school in the mornings. 

In an effort to make busing more efficient and reliable during a bus driver shortage, the district has eliminated courtesy busing for students who live within two miles of their schools. The state only requires that school districts provide transportation to students who live outside the two-mile walk zone, with exceptions for those who attend a highest-need elementary school, must walk a hazardous route to get to school, or are ESE (Exceptional Student Education) students. 

Several parents at the meeting said they submitted requests for consideration for hazardous walking conditions but did not receive communication about whether their requests were approved or denied until right before the semester started—without busing for their students. 

Michael Crandall said he lives 1.9 miles from his children’s school, so they now need to walk to school. He said his six- and eight-year-old are now expected to walk across 6^th Street, 13^th Street and University Avenue. 

“University Avenue, where there have been multiple deaths from college kids getting hit by cars over the last couple years,” Crandall said. “This street’s not safe enough for college kids to walk across, it shouldn’t be safe enough for a six-year-old to walk across.” 

Crandall noted that last year, his six-year-old was not allowed to walk alone the 200 yards from the bus stop to his house, and now is expected to walk almost two miles. He said though the district may be following the letter of Florida law, it has deviated from the spirit of the law. 

Citizen Shawanda Crowley said students in her neighborhood must cross Hawthorne Road to get to school, with no crossing guard to help them. She said no one responded to her hazardous walking requests, and she and many others in her community work from 6 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. in the healthcare field. 

“We’re not home [at] nine o’clock to take our children to school, we’re at the hospital taking care of your loved ones… so where are our children going to go?” Crowley asked. 

Crowley said if there were at least a crossing guard at Hawthorne Road she would feel more comfortable, but as the situation stands many children are either running across the road or their parents are paying for an Uber ride to get them to school. 

Representatives from Horizon Sunset said 13 students with disabilities were not able to make it to school on Tuesday because they no longer had access to busing. 

Dontarrius Rowls, director of transportation, told the board the transportation changes have reduced the drivers’ workload from 110 routes to 92, taking 18 buses off the road during a major driver shortage. Rowls said the shortage had left some parents in a situation where the district would have to call them and let them know their bus would be late, or not coming. 

“Optimizing some of that,” Rowls said, “and reducing some of that and reducing our routes down to what we actually needed in order to run daily, is going to help with covering our routes and ensuring that every student who uses school bus transportation will have a driver each day.” 

The transportation changes have also increased average bus occupancy, making routes more efficient. Rowls said the district’s average cost per student has dropped $310.39 since the optimization. 

Rowls asked for patience from parents as the changes take effect and said anyone who has questions about why their hazardous walking condition request was not approved can call his department for an explanation of how the decisions are made in accordance with state law.