Durham Public Schools plans big changes to busing in 2025. What we know
Durham Public Schools plans to make major changes to busing in 2025 that will impact over 2,000 students.
The school board agreed late Monday to two changes beginning in January:
- Walk zones around 21 elementary schools: This would limit bus service to elementary schoolers living at least 1 mile from school, with exceptions if the commute is unsafe for pedestrians. It’s not yet clear which schools, but the district reports 1,067 students could be affected.
- Express stops around three magnet schools: This would require about 1,000 middle and high school students to commute to group pick-ups and drop-offs at a nearby school, instead of having a bus stop in their neighborhood. It affects three magnet schools — Durham School of the Arts, Rogers-Herr Middle School and the School for Creative Studies — which have students from all areas of the county.
The district is contending with an emergency bus-driver shortage that led administrators to cut back bus service to four days a week starting Monday.
It’s tied to both a surge in ridership requests — over 22,000 kids, or 3 in 4 students — and difficulties in hiring and keeping drivers, according to Matthew Palmer, the school district’s planning director.
“We have a problem. We’re asking people to share the burden,” said Board of Education member Emily Chávez.
The decisions were not unanimous and will continue to be discussed at the next board meeting on Dec. 19 at 6:30 p.m.
‘The system broke’
The new policies will save at least 30 routes and help give staff time to redraw more efficient routes, Palmer said.
He said when over 6,000 students signed up for the bus after the start of the school year, “the system broke.”
“In other districts, they have waitlists for bus ridership. We do not. We enroll, and the expectation is you receive bus service in Durham within 24 hours,” he said. “We aren’t asking the question: ‘Is there room on that bus?’”
Palmer added that Durham is the “only large, urban school district in North Carolina” without an eligibility zone for bus service. The state only requires bus service for students living 1.5 miles from school.
Durham needs 65 to 100 more full-time drivers to staff the over 800 routes driven each day, according to the school district, and some students are having their bus routes repeatedly canceled because of the driver shortage.
The emergency change limiting all bus riders to four days of service will last through December but is not planned to extend into 2025.
It was designed to give parents a consistent schedule, instead of forcing them to make arrangements after last-minute cancellations, according to Superintendent Anthony Lewis.
“What we have been hearing from families is that sometimes they receive notification 10 minutes before they need to get there to pick up their child,” Lewis said in late November.
Chief Operating Officer Larry Webb said all the routes planned Monday “ran as they were supposed to.”
This is a developing story. Have thoughts? Contact mmoore@newsobserver.com.
This story was originally published December 3, 2024 at 8:36 AM.
