District Looks At Limited Bus Routes

OFFICIAL SAYS STORM MADE ROADS SOUTH OF LINCOLN MORE DIFFICULT

LINCOLN — Students in Lincoln missed seven days of school due to the early December winter storm that brought ice and snow to the area.

Superintendent Mary Ann Spears told the school board on Dec. 16, “We have a lot of dirt roads and hills that just weren’t safe.”

Steve Flickinger, transportation manager, agreed with Spears and presented a proposal to the board for members to look over that would help keep snow days to a minimum with limited bus routes.

“These are proposed snow routes in order to minimize snow days,” Flickinger said. “I talked to the bus drivers and we went over the routes. We’ll give this proposal to students to take home to parents for their approval.”

Flickinger said the recent winter storm made the roads south of town more difficult.

“The next time it could be the north side,” Flickinger said.

The proposal, written by Flickinger, states it will be a bus driver’s discretion to determine which roads are not safe to travel. While it is not possible to predict with certainty which roads will be unsafe, past experience has dictated certain roads are not safe.

Flickinger said Route 1 was one of the safest routes and should be able to be traveled most of the route when the area has snow, however Route 2, the Hale Mountain and Dobbs Mountain routes, is “by history the most hazardous. Those routes cover Washington County roads 1 and 3.

Washington County Road 14, the Tyree Mountain road, has pavement that ends. “Those students will need to meet the bus where the pavement ends,” said Flickinger.

“There will be days when when we can’t come in,” said Spears. “But this would help minimize the snow days. We would leave it up to parents if they want to bring their children to meet the buses that can run part of a route. It’s about safety and we want everyone to be safe.”

Flickinger said students who are absent due to limited bus travel would receive an excused absence for each day missed.

Limited bus travel would include morning and afternoon routes.

Kendra Moore, board president, asked if the district hadn’t done a limited bus route a few years past.

“Yes,” said member Connie Meyer. “It worked real well.”

The board gave their approval to having limited bus routes in order to have fewer snow days.

Spears said the faculty has to agree to it, but administrators met and chose four Saturdays for snow make up days.

Those Saturdays included Jan. 18, Feb. 1 and 15 and March 1 with June 3 being the last day of school.

Other days that have been discussed for make up days are Jan. 20, March 14 and Good Friday, April 18.

“June days doesn’t do us much good, but if we miss more school we’ll add it on at the end of the year,” Spears said. “Who thought we’d have to scramble in December on snow days. Due to this we will have to extend the first quarter into the first of the year.”

The board approved Saturday school providing the faculty also votes by 51- percent to approve the calendar change.

An addendum to the ABC Preschool Handbook was also approved adding the preschool will adhere to the establishment and to the free exercise clauses of the First Amendment that guarantees religious freedom.

Spears said this was something that just needed to be added to the handbook that wasn’t in it.

Members who were present included Scott Davis, Meyer, Moore and Jim Ayers. Dax Moreton was absent.