School District 55 will stop providing bus rides to some 130 students next year, pending board approval later this year.
Transportation Supt. L.D. Ellison told the School Board Monday night that the streets in several areas have improved, with the addition of sidewalks, for example, over the last decade, which will force the district to discontinue bus service or lose reimbursement for transporting some elementary students in areas within a mile of their schools.
The district is reimbursed 70 percent of its transportation costs by the ODE, Supt. Larry Horton said.
Elementary students within a mile of their schools do not qualify for the transportation unless they have to walk along a dangerous street, Ellison said. That measure is objectively quantified using Oregon Department of Transportation criteria, including speed limits, traffic patterns, school zone designation, sidewalks, bike lanes and beauty strips, which serve as buffers to the roadway.
Transporting students within a mile of school when there are no dangerous roads violates ODE rules, Ellison said. “I would like to be in compliance with the Department of Education.”
Next year, he is recommending the district stop service for Foster School north of Highway 20 in the 47th Avenue area and along Highway 20 to O&M Tire.
Foster students on the south side of Highway 20 would continue to receive service, Ellison said. The Highway 20 bridge over Wiley Creek has no sidewalk on that side.
He proposes ending service along Long Street to Hawthorne, he said. Long Street, which scores at about a 16 in a rating system used by the state. A score of 22 is considered a dangerous road. The Hawthorne area, Mountain View Road, Grape Street via Mountain View and Highway 20 out to the new storage units will be walking routes.
Oak Heights students along Elm Street and Cedar Street from Mountain View to Oak Heights will be walking, under the recommendation.
The walking routes also will cover Highway 228 to Fern Ridge, 12th Avenue to the downtown area and most of Strawberry Ridge. The top of the ridge is a mile from Oak Heights and will probably have a stop.
Ellison also would like to see at least one new crosswalk at Highway 228, around the intersection with Oak Terrace.
The same limitation applies to junior and high school students, Ellison said, except the distance is 1.5 miles. Generally, the district has already stopped serving those students.
Sometimes students will get on buses at collection points outside the limits, Ellison said, and based on space, they have been permitted to ride.
“Our students are very, very gifted at figuring out where those buses are,” he said.
Ellison’s presentation to the board serves as a kind of advance notice to parents to allow them and their neighborhoods time to prepare, Horton said. “Any changes we’re considering will take place next year.”
The topic will be on the table at School Board meetings for the next few months, he said.
The district has approximately 25 bus routes, Ellison said. If these changes are approved, it would reduce its routes by about 1.5 routes, for a savings of around $100,000, including the cost of a bus €“ around $68,000, fuel and labor.