Sean C. Morgan
The District 55 Transportation Department is still adjusting bus routes and has added back a route due to the hardship it would impose on an affected family.
The district has been looking at removing 11 areas from its routing and picking up affected children at collection points mainly for safety reasons; and it is attempting to reduce its total number of routes from 23 to 20, saving a total of nearly $75,000. Transportation costs are reimbursed by the state, so the district will save 30 percent of the total.
The changes will ideally reduce labor, wear and tear on tires from traveling over gravel and mileage, Ellison said, although stretching some routes may work against saving mileage, which runs at around 400,000 miles per year.
“We have had contact with several parents,” said Transportation Supt. L.D. Ellison. “Scott Mountain we’re going to put back in because it’s an extra hardship on the family.”
The distance for a Scott Mountain family along a narrow gravel road in the dark is the problem, Ellison said.
The route has been a problem for buses, he said. A bus crashed on Scott Mountain Road in 2003.
Other routes have a variety of problems, he said. In one case, a bus must travel eight-tenths of a mile to find a suitable turnaround, while the students have to walk only four-tenths of a mile, Ellison said. Even when the district finds suitable turnarounds, the property owner may not sign an agreement to allow the buses to turn around.
“We just need to find a safe, reasonable turnaround,” Ellison said. Loops are good for the buses, but loops like Cedar Creek and Wiley Creek are a concern.
A bus had just been over Cedar Creek Road before it collapsed last year, Ellison said. It’s been rebuilt, and the district is going to take a look at it.
Other roads and areas under discussion are Whiskey Butte, Wiley Creek, Clark Mill and Green River, Jones, High Deck, Greenville, Kingsbury, Springer and West Brush Creek.
The district is contacting each parent it is currently aware of, he said. “Our question is, can you transport to a collection point? Can your child walk two-tenths of a mile to a collection point?”
If it’s a problem for a family, the district will look at alternatives, such as smaller vehicles, like the department’s Suburbans, Ellison said.
Some parents may not have phones, Ellison said, and the district may not be able to contact the family. He asks that parents with questions or who have not been contacted call the department at (541) 367-7116.
The district is mandated to get a bus within 1 1/2 miles of a junior high or high school student and within a mile of elementary students, Ellison said, but the district is concerned about the children’s safety too.
Adjustments two years ago reflected that for students in the Foster School area, who technically lived within walking distance, he said. Those adjustments were primarily in the Oak Heights and Foster areas.
This year’s adjustment is the largest the district has made in more than a decade, and the district is finalizing routes this week. Bus drivers selected routes on Monday, and routes will be posted to schools on Thursday.
The district has students from the Santiam Terrace area to the west and the Mountain House area, about 25 miles east of Sweet Home, Ellison said. The district covers 1,012 square miles.
“Sometimes, we pass Lebanon School District buses on the same roads because we’re in the same areas,” Ellison said.
Bell times are being adjusted to help minimize ride times, especially for Foster students, Ellison said. Those students will be headed up the hill earlier in the day after school. The adjustments also should reduce empty bus mileage.