St. Charles Unit District 303 clarifying transportation policy

With few exceptions, St. Charles Unit District 303 plans to stick to its policy of not providing transportation to students who aren't eligible to be bused.

Officials are clarifying language in the district's transportation policy to make it less confusing. A discussion about the topic happened this week during a policy committee meeting.

District 303's transportation policy states that students who reside less than one and one-half miles from their assigned school by walking along normally traveled roads or streets are deemed to have adequate transportation and are not eligible for district-provided transportation.

Under board policy, students eligible for transportation are assigned to one bus route and one bus pick-up and drop-off location based on the student's address.

Officials plan to clarify the district's policy to say it will consider providing transportation to and from a child care provider if a family lives at least one and one-half miles from their child's school.

In addition, the location of the child care provider has to fall within the boundary of the school that their child attends.

Free transportation service and vehicle adaptation is provided for a special education student if included in the student's individualized educational program. In addition, transportation is provided for homeless students.

School Superintendent Paul Gordon said the district has tried to accommodate families in the past who are facing different situations.

"It's trying to work with families who maybe have a situation where the family is encountering a divorce situation where somebody lives in one home and somebody lives in another, both within the attendance zone," Gordon said. "And it has caused some different issues. The board, I believe, has received at least two different emails from two families requesting that the board look at this policy again."

Transportation Director Terry Primdahl told board members the district needs to stick to its policy for the safety of students.

"When we have a consistent address, five days a week, we know that we're getting them from point A to point B," Primdahl told school board members. "But when they have multiple locations, we can't guarantee that. And for us, that's an extreme safety issue."

In addition, she said her department doesn't have the staff to support dual addresses. The school district has 25 fewer bus drivers than it did four or five years ago.

Board member Ed McNally said he knows the situation is not ideal.

"I do agree it's a big dilemma," he said. "We may have to monitor it more closely."

School board members plan to vote on the clarified policy at their meeting on Oct. 11.