District updates student walkers

178 Indian Crest Middle School students to lose their bus rides; no elementary students losing busing; parents of affected children notified

Eliminating five bus routes for the coming school year will not result in any elementary school students who were riding the bus having to walk or be driven to school by their parents, the Souderton Area School District announced Wednesday.

Some students attending Indian Crest Middle School, primarily ones living in Souderton or Telford and who were taking the bus, will become walkers, the district said, but the total number of new walkers will be 178, not the more than 300 previously reported.

“These students already live within the walking area established by District policy and permitted by state law. Over the years, however, these students received bus transportation, most likely due to perceived safety issues with the walking routes,” the district said in the release.

A major intersection upgrade in Telford and plans to add two crossing guards in Souderton Borough give the district confidence that the students will have a safe walking route, the district said.

State law sets the maximum walking area distance to school at 1.5 miles for elementary students and two miles for secondary students; district policy is 1.5 miles for all grades, Superintendent Frank Gallagher said.

In another change to make transportation operations more efficient, some bus stops are being moved in places in which the buses had been going into cul-de-sacs or neighborhoods, the district said.

“By moving the bus stop locations to the outer edges of the neighborhoods, we can reduce the amount of time that the bus is on the road, thus

saving fuel and allowing the bus to be available to pick up more students on different routes. We also anticipate that some bus ride times will be reduced with these new stop locations,” the district said.

The estimated average distance for students (at all grade levels and including public and nonpublic school students) to the new bus stop locations will be about a half mile, the district said.

“The farthest stop location will be about 0.6 mile, well below District policy and state guidelines,

and consistent with many other existing walking routes and stop locations that have been in place for many years,” the release said.

The state guideline is that students can walk up to 1.5 miles to their bus stop, Gallagher said.

The changes being made will save the district $270,000 of transportation costs, he said. The district’s $127 million 2018-2019 budget includes $7.7 million for student transportation costs.

“While gaining efficiencies

and meeting our core mission is very important, the safety of students is our number one priority, and has been at the center of this review process,” Gallagher said.

Local police departments and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials were consulted with in developing the plans, the district said.

Parents of students affected by the changes have already been notified by email and will be receiving additional emails, Gallagher said.