Opinion: We need more school buses

Image result for school bus imageIf all students in LWSD who were eligible for school bus transportation were provided bus service and rode the bus to school, the traffic jams around our schools would not exist. The trouble is that our students are not provided with buses so their parents must drive them to school. 

Note that in Washington State, students who must walk more than a mile to school are eligible for bus transportation as part of basic education. (See the section on the 1-mile walk-area in 28A-160-160 in the R C W)

The Lake Washington School District Transportation website says "The district provides transportation only to those students living outside a one-mile radius." The one-mile radius rule was replaced by the 1-mile walk route in 2011. (SEVEN YEARS AGO!!) Why hasn't the district updated this policy on its website? LWSD is unfairly using this outdated statute to deny bus transportation to thousands of students.

Horace Mann students who live at Lookout Ridge/Perrigo Heights and the perimeter areas (Tyler's Creek, Avalon & Redwood Rd) are eligible for school bus transportation because they must walk more than one mile to school. Parents should call Transportation and demand buses! [If the district provides a bus and it passes by your house even though you live .7 walk miles to Horace Mann,] your students can ride to Horace Mann if there is capacity. 28A-160-020.)

What is truly [poor] about the Lake Washington School District Transportation Department is that they manage to provide excellent school bus transportation to the district's trophy schools, but won't provide adequate bus transportation to the regular schools. LWSD provides rapid bus transportation to the Tesla STEM School for students from Kirkland, Redmond and Sammamish - with students riding between 5 and 16 miles each way. LWSD also provides cross-district bus service to ICS students for a $350 fee. However, standard bus service to students at regular schools is limited, poorly planned or not offered at all.

I brought up school bus transportation issues with the district many times when my kids were in elementary school and the previous superintendents refused to address my concerns. With the new superintendent, maybe it's time to revisit this issue.

Opinion by Susan Wilkins, Redmond resident
Source:  Facebook 

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