Other board members said this is something that has been ongoing and said the state’s rules have been hindering them.
“I’m in year eight of my board service and transportation issues were a conversation before I even decided to run for the board,” said board member Jocelyn Rhynard. “This is actually a symptoms of a larger problem of mandates put on us by the state and our inability to meet the needs of all our students.”
Dayton Public superintendent David Lawrence previously told this news outlet that there will likely not be any busing changes for the next school year.
House Bill 96 currently says that regional busing systems can’t route high school students through their downtown hubs. Dayton, as well as Cincinnati and other large Ohio cities, buy bus passes for high school students who aren’t legally required to be transported on yellow buses but still have to get to school.
The provision is part of the state budget bill, which is still being debated and subject to change. The state budget should be completed by the end of June.
Some of the suggestions discussed during the school board meeting for changing busing included suspending all busing for the next school year, using limited service (LS) bus routes through the Greater Dayton Regional Transit System, busing only Dayton Public Schools students and working on improving busing for future years.
RTA has said they could only do afternoon services for high school students, which still means the district would have to figure out how to get students to school in the morning. The RTA said it would also take at least a year to add buses and staff for the LS service, DPS officials said. This option would cost DPS at least $3 million for just DPS students.
Board members seemed to support the option to get students back on yellow buses, something that students, RTA officials and DPS employees have all said they want. But DPS officials said that option would cost $16 million and would take at least a year to implement. Beyond that, business manager Marvin Jones said it would take about $5 million per year to pay bus drivers’ salaries and benefits.
Board member Joe Lacey, the longest-serving member, said DPS stopped busing students under a previous superintendent.
In 2016-2017, the chronic absenteeism rate was around 30%, according to previous reporting from this news outlet. Last year, DPS’s chronic absenteeism rate was around 45%, according to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% or more of school hours for any reason.
Board president Chrisondra Goodwine asked for help from the community. She said people need to be supporting DPS and not just on social media, but boots-on-the-ground, getting kids together to carpool to school.
“I wish the other schools would step up and lighten the load a little, but that hasn’t happened,” she said, referring to charter and parochial schools.
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