No more school buses means more cars driving through the campus every day, it also means students having to get their licenses earlier than planned because riding a bus no longer will be an option. With the school board’s recent decision to eliminate corridor busing, the safety of students and other drivers is a larger issue than it has ever been before. The question now is how will student, parents and the school adjust.
“If we left it only as the car loop, we would have a line of cars all the way to U.S. 1.,” Assistant Principal Jim Melia said. “I think the kids are safer on a big yellow bus than when you take 750 families. That’s 750 different chances for somebody to get hurt.”
The morning and after-school car loops already pose problems from time to time. Add about 600 more cars to that equation and the result could be angry parents and late students. In order to accommodate the change, the school administration plans to make the car loop on the east side of the campus bigger and longer so that there will be fewer cars in the road and more in the loop. In addition, the current bus loop in the front of the school will also be turned into a car loop. Details regarding these changes have yet to be addressed.
Students who cannot drive due to age or finacial reasons now have no way to get to school. The bus was a cost effective and for the some families the only way children can get to school.
“Since my sister is leaving and I don’t get my license until October, my little sister and I were going to take the bus but now we can’t,” freshman Mattie Shaw said. “We luckily have a friend that is able to take us next year to school until I can get my license.”
No more busing could mean fewer students attending the schools, more cars coming through the campus every day and much more. The administration is trying to do everything it can to accommodate the many cars that will be coming through the car loop every day and trying to find a solution for the mess the school board gave us.
