Parents want more bus service
District no longer provides transportation to after-school centers
Transportation remains an issue for parents with children in Lee County public schools.
At the top of the list of concerns shared at Lee County School Board meetings is that buses no longer take children to day care centers for after-school care.
Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier said it was a matter of priority: Getting kids to school on time by reducing the number of miles buses had to run.
The transportation changes are not new, as the board, at his recommendation, made the decision to enter into the elementary proximity plan in February of last year as a way to resolve the problem of 5,000 to 6,000 students arriving late to school every day.
“As a superintendent, that is my job. My job is to ensure students get to school on time. That means in some cases a student never arrived to a first period class whether the class is P.E., English, algebra one. They deserve the opportunity to sit in front of their teacher and receive that education,” Bernier said. “By trimming 15,000 miles off a day off elementary runs, we are getting better.”
Starting this Friday, the school board will begin receiving weekly reports on time percentages and numbers of students arriving late.
“We want to ensure our students get to school on time. To ensure they have access to free and public ed that we promise and that access is to get them to and from school,” Bernier said.
He said what he has shared with their nonprofit partners is that as the weeks move forward they will look for additional opportunities to get students to school on time, but also to abide by the law.
“We have responsibilities in transportation to state law and we will ensure that we do that. That does not preclude us from providing additional routes to a queue, or to a Stars complex, or a YMCA or Boys and Girls Club. What it does mean is that my job cannot be door-to-door service for every parent and every day care. I cannot do that and still get my students to school on time because if we do that for our elementary-aged children what transpires in the morning and afternoon is my middle schoolers arrive somewhere between 50 to 75 minutes late for their school day,” Bernier said.
He reiterated that his primary responsibility as a superintendent, and what the school board holds him accountable for, is for children to have access to their schools, curriculum and teachers.
“We have to plan for our future and we cannot continue door-to-door service because our students are not getting door-to-door service in terms of their ability to get to school,” Bernier said.
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com