District 308 Informs Parents of Bus Route Cuts
The district plans to send a message to parents about the cuts this week, and follow up with postcards to affected homes - those within 1.5 miles of the school their children attend.
If you live within 1.5 miles of the District 308 school your child attends, you'll most likely be getting one of these postcards. And if there's a safe way for your child to walk to school, you won't be getting bus service next year.
The Oswego School District is facing a cut of about $700,000 in state transportation funding, based on a change in the formula lawmakers use to reimburse school districts. In past years, the district has bused some students who live within a 1.5-mile radius of the school, but by law, they're not obligated to do so.
The district has kept bus service running for those students due to construction and other issues that make those routes unsafe to walk. However, many of those issues have now been resolved, officials said, and the district is moving forward with eliminating bus service for those students. Crossing guards will be on duty and crosswalks in effect for walkers.
There are still some areas designated hazards, without safe routes for children to walk to school, even if they live within the 1.5-mile radius. Those areas will still receive bus service, according to Angie Smith, the district's director of business services.
A list of the areas which will not receive bus service is here.
Here is the text of the letter and voice message the district will send out to parents in the coming days:
"Due to recent school boundary changes and proposed reductions to school transportation funding by the state, District 308 has undergone a full evaluation of its transportation services. This evaluation has resulted in the elimination of bus service to some areas that currently receive busing. Students residing within 1.5 miles from their schools will be affected by this change.
Within the next week, affected families will receive a post card indicating that their address will not qualify for bus service for the 2012-13 school year. Please note that some families may receive more than one post card if they have students in multiple schools.
Please contact the transportation department at 630-636-2999 if you have questions after receiving the postcard.
No changes will be made to the transportation of students in special programs or kindergartners attending a program not in their home schools. Students who qualify for busing will receive bus route information in August."
Attached you will find the design of the postcards district officials will mail out to affected homes. If your house is within 1.5 miles of a District 308 school, you'll get one, and you may get two, depending on where you live.
This story has been changed to clarify which students will not receive bus service.
Chris
4:31 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
I think this article perhaps needs to be clarified. According to the district website it is if you live within the 1.5 miles AND live in certain subdivisions that no longer have to cross what was previously considered hazards. They name the specific subdivisions on the district website and these are what I saw discussed at the BOE meeting.
Perhaps something has changed since then and they have decided to cut all bussing under 1.5 miles?
http://www.oswego308.org/news/default.aspx?&ArticleId=2970
Andre Salles
6:47 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Hm. That's not the way I understood it from my conversations earlier today. I have a call in to the district spokesperson for clarification. Thanks for pointing it out. I'll clear it up.
Andre Salles
8:35 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Took some doing, but I did confirm your information, Chris. There will be students within 1.5 miles of a school who will still receive bus service, if there isn't a safe way for those kids to walk to school. Thanks for letting me know I had it wrong.
Michele Cronsell
8:39 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
According to the 308 site....
After careful evaluation, it has been determined that some addresses that qualified for bus service in 2011-12 will no longer qualify for the 2012-13 school year. Families affected by this change will be notified via mail. This change is expected to result in approximately $300,000 in savings for the district. The families being impacted include students who live within 1.5 miles of school AND who reside in the following areas:
Homestead Elementary School students residing in Harbor Springs, Blue Skies and Columbia Station
Churchill Elementary and Plank Junior High School students residing in Churchill Club who cross 5th Street to attend school
Traughber Junior High School students residing in Southbury who cross Wooley Road to attend school
Prairie Point Elementary School students residing in Morgan's Crossing and Deerpath Trails
The Wheatlands Elementary School students residing in Amber Fields North
Wolf's Crossing Elementary and Bednarcik Junior High School students residing in Lakewood Valley and Amber Fields
Grande Park Elementary and Murphy Junior High School students residing in Grande Park
Oswego East High School students residing in Prescott Mills
Hunt Club Elementary School students residing in Hunt Club
Some areas in Boulder Hill with students who attend Thompson Junior High School
Andre Salles
8:56 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Right, Michelle. I posted a link to that in the story. According to Angie Smith, the criteria for suspending bus service is a) you live within 1.5 miles of the school, and b) there's a safe way for kids to walk to the school. Those areas above are the ones which were receiving bus service because of road construction and other hazards preventing kids from walking. The hazards have been cleared up in those areas, according to the district.
Ruth F
8:43 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
1.56 miles here approx. If they use Mapquest. How do they determine Mileage?
Katra Knoernschild
9:40 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Ruth,
They explained quite explicitly that Mileage is determined by driving distance, not walking or "the way the crow flies". Basically, it has to be a route that is accessible to the buses.
Robyn Vickers
8:55 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
I was at the BOE meeting when this was approved. It's NOT all neighborhoods within 1.5 miles. The neighborhoods listed on the website are the ones impacted by the change. http://www.oswego308.org/news/default.aspx?&ArticleId=2970
FYI, the state has a point system used to determine the danger of a crossing. If a crossing is deemed dangerous by this system, the state will reimburse even it's less than 1.5 miles. For now anyway. LOL
Robyn Vickers
9:02 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Sorry, I should have refreshed my screen before I responded. :)
Andre Salles
9:11 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Yep, I've updated. I'll get the hang of this soon, I promise!
OswegoMom
6:19 am on Thursday, May 31, 2012
So is the reverse true as well - are there homes in some of these subdivisions that are greater than 1.5 miles and would be bussed? Don't think there would be a lot but specifically I could imagine there might be some in Columbia Station.
Andre Salles
6:43 am on Thursday, May 31, 2012
Yes, if you live more than 1.5 miles from the school, you will continue to receive bus service.
John Spasojevich
6:48 am on Thursday, May 31, 2012
Don't feel too bad. It says there will be crossing guards. Here in Boulder Hill kids have been crossing two way stop intersections for YEARS without crossing guards. Fortunately no one has been killed or injured....yet. But then again..it's only Boulder Hill..who cares right. We lived nine tenths of a mile from BH school and if you ever watch the intersections of Briarcliff and Bereman and Circle Drive East and Bereman, both of which are two way stops with the bulk of traffic flying well over the 30MPH speed limit on Briarcliff it would make you wonder why we never got bus service when other, newer subdivisions with four way stops farther away from their schools did.
Lisa
11:47 am on Thursday, May 31, 2012
Out streets - Royal Troon drive and Wild dunes circle in Lakewood valley are about 1.4 mils from school postal address and about 1.58-1.6 miles door to door. If the people who made the decisions about cutting bus services to Lakewood valley elementary have cared to go to the intersections of Eola and Wolf's crossing in the morning rush hours, than they would have known that there is VERY HEAVY traffic especially cars sometimes have over 50 miles speed when they approach the intersection. If any of the decision makers are parents, they would know that it is not safe to cross these two main streets even with the guards. Besides, it is not even possible for most of the streets to walk their kids to school to 1.58~1.6 miles to school door. That will increase at least several hundred cars traffic on this intersection in a short amount of time during rush hour creating a big traffic mess for people taking Eols to 88 east.
We understand budget constraints and all the issues but then we see the news of officials getting hired in the district at $41000 more than the people held that position earlier. Every parent I talked to in th subdivision is fed up with all the drama going on lately with school district now. Something has to change here.
Lisa
OswegoMom
1:49 pm on Thursday, May 31, 2012
During the boundary committee discussions, there were parents from Amber Fields and Lakewood Valley who argued that Wolfs Crossing was not the ideal candidate to go to Murphy as it was the only elementary school that could feasibly become a walking school. Several parents spoke on behalf of those two communities and submitted petitions that, from my understanding, supported that concept of both communities walking to Wolfs Crossing and Bednarcik.
Lisa
2:43 pm on Thursday, May 31, 2012
So, from what Oswegomom was saying, choice for Lakewood valley was to go to new middle school or lose the school bus services? Was that discussed that way in the meeting? I don't think so. Also, If you are aware of the location, there are parts of this subdivision who may be able to walk as they are less than few blocks. It is a different thing that the intersection is not safe for kids as this is not your local street. We are talking about Eols and Wolf's crossing with traffic going at 40-50 miles per hour. And many of us are in farther part of the subdivision as this subdivisions are huge. Murphy is 7 miles away. So, it is common sense or practical that this subdivisions need to go to Wolf's crossing and Bednarcik. Just 30 houses on our street makes up for $300000 as our average taxes are $11000. Plus I feel really bad as we paid for all the kids in last 10 years to have bus service and now when it is our turn to use bus service for our first born, we have to spend aditional money to make arrangements or quit job or sell the house. Either way, it is our loss by this random decisions by the school district.
OswegoMom
3:28 pm on Thursday, May 31, 2012
I didn't mean for my comment to be offensive. I am just saying that it was the parents from the two sub-divisions who were speaking at length a plan to make WC a walking school. As a matter of fact, parents from Homestead did try to speak up and say "hey is that really a great idea" - each time we were shut down. It seemed like those speaking had done a great deal of research and had the backing of their communities. Unfortunately, the transportation changes really are based on standards in place elsewhere (1.5 mile) not randomly placed by our district.
Debi
8:38 am on Friday, June 1, 2012
I agree Lisa. Eola and Wolf's crossing is an enormous danger. A month ago a child was hit by a car in the cross walk after school and by the looks of it, he broke his leg. However, there was no mention of this accident in any papers. My 7 years face told me that he was no happy about walking to school any time soon. I don't know why the district didn't offer us the option of personally paying for bus service. Many states that don't have funds offer this option. This would be more expenses, but it is a safer option and then parents don't have to miss work or lose their jobs because of this bad decision.
oswego308watch
4:53 pm on Thursday, May 31, 2012
I think everyone knows what they need to do come election time. This board served its purpose and now they are governing like blind fools.
Resolution Church
9:55 am on Friday, June 1, 2012
It really is a shame when a 5yr old (which yes I heard, makes no difference in the eyes of the state whether 5 or 18) has to walk crossing 4 streets, 2 of which are busy, and passing a lake (hear of all of the drownings recently) hoping not to be plowed over by drivers, and not accosted by predators, all to get to kindergarten. Its really too bad a public meeting to discuss what couldve been done before changes were made wasn't initiated. Ill be praying for a safe year for the hundreds of affected children.
OswegoMom
10:37 am on Friday, June 1, 2012
I agree it is not a great situation however there was opportunity for public comment at each of the board meetings where this was discussed and on the agenda. I was not able to attend but did listen in and there was absolutely no speakers on this topic. I did write to the Board and Transportation about my own concerns with safety considerations as I am sure many others did. I hate to keep bringing up boundary discussions, but the high traffic in that area already, not to mention once you have 2 schools of parents driving their kids, was brought up as a concern along with other safety issues of why Homestead parents did not think it was a feasible option to make WC a walking school. Think the site is down now but savewolfscrossing.com was set up to show support from the WC community - albeit to keep them at Bednarcik but I recall the walking issue was raised there as well as in many of the letters posted on the boundary wiki site sent by parents to the committee. Unfortunately, maybe just a few people spoke on behalf of their entire communities but that was the message that got heard repeatedly. I do agree with previous post - would be a nice option to allow parents to pay for transport though - think full day kindergarten used to operate that way. I have been in touch with our Alderman and pushing for coordination with the city to make safest routes possible.
Lisa
11:15 am on Friday, June 1, 2012
I was at the meeting at Oswego High yesteday about the recent changes. There were unexpected high number of parents showed up with their concerns. I felt really bad for Angie Smith as she was really being hit like Pinata for being bearer of the bad news. I am sure she was not happy making all these calls and she understood the concerns. It is a shame that in the eyes of state 5 year old and 18 years old are the same. I wish elementary schools would have been excluded from the changes.
Angie made a quick decision to change the Wolf's crossing elementary to Tier 1. So, parents can drop off kids at 8:05 in stead of 8:35. So, that will help all working parents to manage. There are huge doubts in people's mind about the safety of the intersection though. I personally avoid the intersection as many trucks, trailors and cars zoom through the intersection at 40-50 miles per hour. In the meantime, we will just have to keep writing to the state representative. Hopefully they will have kids and they can understand how dangerous it is to make your 5-6 year old or any underage child for that matter to cross the roads like Eola and Wolf's crossing.
I did not get a chance to sit through the meeting till end. But I just would have said Thanks to Angie for listening the concerns. At least she really seemed concerned about every topic parents raised.