New school bus routes draw gripes at Woodland

Woodland Elementary District's newly consolidated bus routes were designed to reduce student travel time to schools, but they have triggered some parent complaints as well.

About 100 parents attended a meeting Wednesday night at Woodland Middle School in Gurnee to raise concerns that included claims some students now have to walk farther than in the past to reach bus stops.

Officials at Gurnee-based Woodland District 50 said a committee of employees and parents helped to establish guidelines for the new bus routes in the last school year.

About 30 percent of stops were realigned in an effort to reduce the time children spend on buses and provide more direct routes to schools, while saving a projected $30,000. Another stated goal was to provide equity with regard to the distances children walk to their stops.

"The primary reason for the change was not due to cost savings initiatives," District 50 spokeswoman Jennifer Tempest Bova said.

Under the guidelines in effect at Woodland, students in kindergarten through third grade are not supposed to walk more than 2/10 of a mile to a stop. Children in grades four through eight aren't supposed to go more than 3/10 of a mile to a bus stop.

However, some parents have told the district their children are now walking a longer distance from home to a bus stop. Woodland officials say each concern is being reviewed individually.

Woodland officials also heard concerns about the safety of younger children waiting with high school students at some stops. District 50 said a solution would be to identify and change the stops, where possible, to separate the age groups.

Bova said a majority of Woodland routes now have shorter ride times. She said about 550 students at Woodland elementary and primary schools are arriving home earlier.

District 50's transportation department will evaluate all of parent concerns and address them by Sept. 9, Bova said. She said any future concerns received by the transportation department or top administrators will be examined within 10 days.