DPS: No Mid-Year Express Bus Stops

Express school bus stops for three secondary magnet schools - Rogers-Herr Middle School, Durham School of the Arts, and The School for Creative Studies - are unlikely to see implementation this month.

According to the Durham Public School's transportation update packet for the Jan. 9 Board of Education work session, administrators want to take express stops off the table until the 2025/2026 school year.

"We do not recommend implementing (express stops) this school year," the update reads. This spring, district transportation staff will develop stop locations, procedures, and an implementation timeline for next year.

This decision comes in the wake of feedback in a district survey that made it clear many parents - and some students - opposed the concept. Under the plan, parents would deliver students to a designated DPS hub rather than a neighborhood bus stop and pick their child up from the hub at the end of the day. How did this improve on the premise of simply driving a student to and from school if DPS couldn't supply reliable school bus transportation?

Comments in the survey included:

• "This plan places immense hardship on families with children at different schools and of different ages. It is also discriminatory."
• "It disproportionately affects families with two working parents, single parent families, and those who cannot afford a car. For a magnet school, this policy will select out only wealthy families who can manage transportation for their students. There will be no diversity."
• "You are not giving families enough time to make new plans!"
• "Express stops do not help. If families could drive their child to an express stop they could drive them to school."
• "I'm a student at DSA, and this is a terrible idea. The point of the bus system is so parents don't have to worry about how their child is going to get to/from school. Parents have no time to be waiting for the bus to come to the express stop. They have LIVES where they WORK, and cannot do that."

Staff still seem to be recommending that the district move forward with "family responsibility zones," which require families living within a certain radius of their school to allow their children to ride in the family car, walk, or ride a bicycle rather than relying on bus service.

"Children are expected to use the shortest route to school, following established streets, sidewalks, or satisfactory off-road paths accessible to regular auto or pedestrian traffic," the transportation update states. "Certain conditions, such as people loitering, general concerns about neighborhood crime, traveling in the dark, or abandoned buildings are not considered hazards and generally will not qualify for exceptions."

Maps of the walk zones at each affected school are expected this week.

Families seeking exceptions for hardship would:

• Contact their principal for assistance with the situation.
• If that doesn't work, fill out a transportation exception form that eventually will be available on the DPS transportation website.
• If denied, per district policy 6322, the family can seek review of the decision by DPS leaders - including the Board of Education.

Meanwhile, transportation staff continue efforts to recruit and train new school bus drivers - and to improve working conditions for the current corps of drivers so they might stay on with DPS. They're also working on route optimization and evaluating bell schedules for transportation staffing and efficiency.

And what about rotational bus coverage, which has been in effect since Dec. 2, requiring families to supply transportation to and from school at least once a week?

Staff remain confident the district can end that program on Jan. 17.

The board meets today at 5:30 p.m.

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