Transportation cuts go into effect

By KRIS REILLY, Editor

LUCERNE VALLEY • The experience of getting to and from school will change drastically for most local children as the school year gets under way next week.

Facing state funding reductions as well as debt, the Lucerne Valley Unified School District has cut its transportation budget (the cut was approved by the LVUSD Board of Trustees in the spring, as reported by The Leader).

The major changes are: 1. All students, K-12, will be on similar schedules and will ride the same buses to and from school; 2. Students within two miles of their school site will have to walk to school or find other means of transportation; 3. The number of bus stops has been decreased, thereby increasing the distance between stops; 4. Students will be issued bus passes and must ride on the same bus route each day because buses will be running at near-capacity.

Local parent Michelle Skonezny is concerned about the changes. Skonezny told The Leader that she is hoping the county and/or CalTrans can install crosswalks and signs at busy intersections where children will be crossing. (The district is not obligated to provide crossing guards.)

She also believes the bus pass policy will make life difficult for working parents who sometimes have their children take a different bus to go to a baby-sitter’s house after school.

“I’m trying to get parents together,” Skonezny said. “Maybe we can petition to get some of these things changed, or at least help each other out with a carpool program. Some parents’ jobs might be at stake because of this change.”

Skonezny said anyone interested can call her at (760) 792-4021.

School begins Monday, Aug. 29.

In addition to the bus schedules in this week's print edition of The Leader, the district has provided the following Q&A about the changes. The Q&A was created by LVUSD Superintendent Suzette Davis and other district officials in response to questions posed by parents and others in the community.

Q: Why the changes to the transportation program?
A: Our district has suffered the impact of decreased revenues from Sacramento for several years now. All district personnel have endured deep pay cuts and many programs have been cut or eliminated. The actual school year itself has been cut back five full student attendance days.

Each year we must submit an acceptable budget to the county. Consequences of not doing so include the possibility of having someone come in to the district and making our decisions for us. One of those decisions could be to eliminate transportation completely. We understand the impact of the transportation changes and reductions, however we feel the loss of transportation completely in our community would be devastating.

Many other districts have found it necessary to charge for transportation, some offer passes in a first come first served only system and a few districts have eliminated transportation altogether. Although we realize that making the new changes may be frustrating, we are happy to have adapted to still be able to offer transportation.

Q: Why are you cutting transportation instead of other areas?
A: As mentioned above we have already made deep cuts in our district budget in almost every other area. We have different funding sources within our budget. Many areas of revenue have restrictions on how they can be spent. For example, some funding sources can only be spent on textbooks, while others cannot be spent on salaries. We are limited on what we receive and how we can spend the money.

Q: Why did all schools move to a similar start/end time?
A: In order to only make one run per route it was necessary to have all district students ride at the same time.

Q: Won’t it be unsafe to put all students (K-12) on the same bus? Will they be separated on the bus?
A: Thousands of districts across the country transport all grade levels at the same time with no problems. As a matter of fact, it has been noted that discipline problems have minimized. Older kids rise to the occasion as role models and as protectors of the younger children. Younger students tend to be less likely to act out.
Students will be separated, with younger kids on the front of the bus and older children at the back.

Q: I do not see my child’s bus stop from last year on the bus schedule. Why not?
A: Unfortunately, we had to limit the amount of stops for the reason listed above.

Q: I live within the two-mile radius of the school, but we live less than a block or so away from a listed bus stop. Why can’t my kids use that stop?
A: We understand this may be a frustration, but in order for this to work financially we have had to determine boundaries that will be enforced. Using student information, we developed routes based on near-full bus capacity. Unfortunately, only the students who live in the designated boundaries for each route will be able to ride that bus. There will be no exceptions.
Districts throughout the state, including high desert districts such as Apple Valley, Hesperia, Big Bear, and the Victor districts have all made similar decisions.

Q: What about these bus passes I’ve heard about? What if my child loses or forgets their bus pass? Will they be left behind at the bus stop?
A: We will issue temporary bus passes for the first several weeks of school. Once we have had the opportunity to re-evaluate enrollment and bus loads we may modify some of the routes. At that time, we will issue bus passes for the year. Bus drivers will have a list of who is supposed to ride on their bus, so if a student does not have their pass, the driver will have the list of riders. Students will not be left at stops. However, we will contact parents if there is a problem or misunderstanding regarding the student riding the bus.

Q: Sometimes my child rides a different bus to her friend’s or grandma’s house. Can she have more than one bus pass?
A: Unfortunately, we will not be able to accommodate these situations this year. We have limited busses running full and only students from that route will be able to ride.

Q: One of my children is at the middle/high school and one is in elementary. We seem to be within two miles for the elementary but not the high school. Does that mean my middle/high school student cannot ride the bus but my elementary student can?
A: Distances have been determined by a midpoint between the sites. Either both of your students will qualify to ride the bus or they will both need to find alternate means of transportation to school (i.e., walking, being driven to school, part of a parent carpool, etc.)

Q: Will there be crossing guards at the busy highway crossings?
A: Unfortunately, there are no funds to employ crossing guards and districts have been advised strong caution due to liability issues not to use school staff and/or school volunteers. By law, school districts are not required to supply crossing guards.

With that said, we are continuing to explore all ideas, options, and alternative plans to help accommodate our families regarding this issue. Several parents have offered great suggestions.

At the time of this publication, we are reviewing all possibilities and will get any additional information out via our phone outreach communication system.

We urge parents to plan your child’s route to school and make arrangements for him/her to get to school safely. Parents in other communities have joined forces to carpool, walk with their students to and from school, and help assist groups of students at areas where they cross streets/roads.

Q: What about student safety with the increased walking distance?
A: Although we do understand this is a concern for parents, we join other districts statewide in the feeling that hazards can be found a few feet away or a mile away. Through the teamwork of reviewing safety precautions with our students both at home and at school, we know we can make this work.

Our district is proud to be a part of a strong community. We are happy to have found a compromise to still be able to offer transportation at no cost to our students.

We appreciate the understanding and support from everyone.