Durham School Transportation Plans May Be Clearer This Week

Maps of walking routes and locations of express school bus service hubs should be published this week by Durham Public Schools.

That clarity's critical as the magnet school lottery opened this week and families that aren't yet enrolled in DPS may make decisions based on the district's next steps.

District transportation officials at a special called meeting on Monday answered questions from several Board of Education members – Jessica Carda-Auten, Emily Chavez, Natalie Beyer, and Joy Harrell Goff – ahead of a work session planned Thursday.

The DPS transportation team worked through the holiday break to develop plans for family responsibility zones – areas around 21 Durham elementary schools where, by default, parents now would be expected to either drive their children to school or allow them to walk or ride a bicycle – and express bus service for secondary magnet schools Rogers-Herr, School for Creative Studies, and Durham School of the Arts.

Elementary schools identified for family responsibility zones include:

• Burton.
• Club Boulevard.
• Creekside.
• Eastway.
• Fayetteville Street.
• Forest View.
• George Watts Montessori.
• R.N. Harris.
• Hillandale.
• Holt.
• Hope Valley.
• Lakewood.
• Morehead Montessori.
• Murray-Massenburg.
• Parkwood.
• E.K. Powe.
• Sandy Ridge.
• Y.E. Smith.
• C.C. Spaulding.
• Southwest.

Although the North Carolina “walk zone” policy allows districts to create “no bus” regions as much as 1.5 miles around schools, DPS has opted for no more than a mile.

As for express hub service, Beyer noted, Wake County has used them – but didn’t implement them in the middle of the school year in response to a transportation crisis. Dropoff times for express hubs are expected to be between 7:15 and 7:45 a.m.

If DPS moves forward with these efforts to mitigate the ongoing school bus driver shortage, the responsibility zones are expected to take effect on Jan. 21. It’s not clear yet how soon the express school bus service would start. Board members on Monday asked administrators to come to the Thursday work session prepared to share their readiness assessment.

During the Monday meeting, Superintendent Dr. Anthony Lewis gave an overview of a community survey in which 417 participants (thus far) gave their thoughts about the district’s transportation challenges.

The executive summary states: “The responses highlight significant concerns about the implementation of express stops and family responsibility zones. Parents express difficulties in driving their children to school daily, safety issues with children walking in the dark, and the impracticality for working parents. Many emphasize the inequity of the plan, particularly for low-income families, single parents, and those without reliable transportation. There are worries about increased truancy, traffic congestion, and the lack of supervision at express stops. The timing of the implementation, mid-school year, is also criticized for causing undue hardship. Overall, the plan is seen as shifting the burden from the district to families, exacerbating existing challenges.”

The Hope Valley Elementary School PTA expects 180 children living within a quarter mile of the school to be affected by the no-bus zone.

“The implementation of no-bus zones will create hardships for many families at our school: single parents who rely on babysitters or older siblings to get kids on the bus in the morning, families without cars, and families for whom school transportation is key to maintaining them in the workforce,” the PTA board wrote.

PTA leaders urged people to volunteer for the No-Bus Zone Family Support Task Force (send email to hopevalleypta@gmail.com), add ideas to the planning document, and donate winter clothing and rain gear (drop off at the front office).

Said Lewis: “We all have the same goal: providing reliable transportation. (Students’) academics are hugely important to us. It’s difficult to be the premiere and best school district in the country if we can’t get our kids to school.”

Got thoughts about the transportation situation in DPS? Feel free to email southpointaccessnews@gmail.com!