Question No. 1:
There are Cole area children who are south of Herndon that will be forced to walk to Alta Sierra and Buchanan. They will be forced to walk east on Sierra to Villa and then north on Villa to Buchanan High School and Alta Sierra Intermediate. Please note the sidewalks are either non-existent or on one side of the street or the other.
Response
Unless an adequate paved walkway, as described in Board Policy 8301, is available for the walk from the Cole attendance area to Alta Sierra/BHS, transportation will be provided.
Question No. 2:
Why doesn’t the District eliminate ALL bus services offered to kids who stay after for sports or other activities; the “five o’clock” buses?
Response
The after school runs are available not only for students participating in athletics but also for students involved in after school intervention programs. The reduction of all after school runs was not highly recommended by the Transportation Task Force Committee. The cost to provide this service is $143,525 per year.
Question No. 3:
Why doesn’t the District charge for transportation for students participating in extra curricular activities?
Response
Unfortunately, the California Supreme Court has ruled that it is unconstitutional for school districts to charge a fee for transportation services for students participating in extra curricular activities. This decision was made several years ago.
Question No. 4:
How will these proposed changes affect Gateway High School students? I noticed there wasn’t a map on your web site for Gateway.
Response
If the radius were put into place the 2.5-mile radius would be placed at Gateway and students living within the radius would be considered walkers. For students outside the radius, the same plan will continue. Gateway students will walk to a transfer point (High School) or if they live outside of that HS radius they can ride the neighborhood bus to the HS and than transfer to the Gateway bus.
Question No. 5:
Is the school district required by law to provide home-to-school transportation?
Response
There is no law or code that requires school districts to provide home-to-school transportation.
Question No. 6:
Doesn’t the District receive funding from the State to operate home-to-school transportation?
Response
Yes, school districts receive funding from the State to operate home-to-school transportation programs. Unfortunately, the funding that is received from the State does not cover the cost of operating a transportation program. Currently, the State dollars received by Clovis Unified specifically for transportation only pays for roughly 36% of the transportation services provided.
Question No. 7:
Isn’t the District required to provide transportation to a low performing “PI” school?
Response
There are no such special requirements imposed. “No Child Left Behind” requires districts to provide transportation only if the parent requests a transfer out of a PI site to another non-PI site. Kastner and Clovis West High School are not identified as PI sites.