DAYTON — The majority of students in Miami Valley’s largest district headed back to school on Tuesday, and some of them did not have a bus to get there.
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Students in grades 1-9 returned to the classroom, but those ninth-grade students didn’t have school buses or a district-issued bus pass to get them to or from school.
Having freshman students return first helps them learn where their classrooms are, but it also helps the district see what an informal transportation system will look like.
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News Center 7 caught up with parents and grandparents waiting in a long line of cars waiting to pick up students from Ponitz High School.
“It is what it is, you’ve got to do for your kids and grandkids,” Mary Lou Swabb, a great-grandparent in the pickup line, said.
The fact that the freshmen don’t drive and there are no school buses caused a line of vehicles double-parked outside the school.
“We’ve been able to get a gauge on how many parents are dropping off, how many kids are finding alternative transportation, other than parents, family, churches, van, and who is using a bus to ride directly to the school,” Dr. David Lawrence, Dayton Public Schools superintendent, said.
Lawrence told News Center 7 that the district had to do things this way after state lawmakers outlawed the use of RTA using downtown transfers. Money, plus state requirements, prevent the district from having enough school buses for high schoolers.
“I’m confident that there will be other organizations that adopt high schools in terms of a transportation piece,” Lawrence said.
Many parents are making huge adjustments to get their kids to school. Others told News Center 7 it’s a choice they’ve always made.
As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, district leaders say, anecdotally, they felt they had strong attendance numbers at high schools on Tuesday with just freshmen. They plan to have solid numbers at the end of the week after 10-12th graders return on Wednesday.
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