[Updated 1/3/25] Durham School Board Shifts Transportation Meeting

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated with a response received late Friday from DPS indicating there will be no additional information coming about the transportation discussion ahead of Monday's meeting.

The Durham Public Schools Board of Education is kicking off the new year with a little surprise: they've scheduled a special meeting for Monday, Jan. 6, to "discuss and consider acting on matters related (to) transportation services."

And they don't want to hear from the public at the meeting before they make their decision. The meeting notice posted online at the DPS website states: "There will be no public comments for this meeting."

The board had planned as of Dec. 20 to meet during their scheduled work session on Jan. 9 to provide details of plans to implement "family responsibility zones" - areas around specific elementary schools in which parents would be in charge of getting their students to school by car, bicycle, or on foot - and express stop school bus service for magnet programs at the School for Creative Studies, Rogers-Herr Middle School, and Durham School of the Arts. Express stops would require parents to deliver their children to specific transportation hubs, and from there students would be taken to school.

It's not clear why DPS accelerated this action, but it was obvious during the last board meeting that board members wanted to put an end to the stopgap rotational bus coverage system that's been in use since early December to cope with a shortage of school bus drivers. And, certainly, DPS families are weary of uncertainty about school transportation for their children.

Family responsibility zones are expected to take effect on Jan. 21, after students return from the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. It remains to be seen when express stops might go into operation.

As of Friday morning, no agenda materials accompany the topic about transportation for the special meeting. Southpoint Access has reached out to DPS for more details. In an email late Friday, district spokesperson Crystal Roberts stated: "Currently, we are relying on previous information shared with principals and parents."

So, if you're looking for information about which schools are faced with responsibility zones, maps for walking paths, and express bus stop hubs - apparently, you're out of luck unless word of mouth reaches you from the right people.

(I'm still optimistic someone, somewhere at the district has this information. But I think it's less likely we'll learn more about it before Monday.)

Got something you want to say about the proposed transportation options? Send email to southpointaccessnews@gmail.com.