Families are decrying new walk zones for Alexandria City Public Schools, saying the changes force their children off school buses to walk along unsafe roadways.
A number of parents denounced the walk zones during the public comment period at the Alexandria City School Board meeting on Thursday night (Aug. 27). ACPS provides bus transportation for students living more than a mile from their elementary schools and more than a mile-and-a-half from Alexandria City High School.
While the distance criteria hasn’t changed, ACPS made adjustments to students’ eligibility for bus transportation based on new school boundaries. ACPS may grant exceptions, including for when it identifies “an unusual walking hazard.”
The new walk zones and boundary changes went into effect on July 1, leading parents on Thursday to complain of a faulty analysis by ACPS that’s left their children ineligible to ride on school buses.
In response, Acting Superintendent Grace Taylor said that the school system has “more work to do” and is taking an “all-hands-on-deck” approach to fixing the problem.
Jeremy Miller, the parent of a fifth grader at Douglas MacArthur Elementary School, told the School Board that he was shocked when informed that his child was no longer eligible for bus rides.
“According to ACPS policy, elementary students are eligible if they live more than one mile from the school, or if there is not a walk path free from unusual hazards,” Miller said. “The least dangerous route from my house to the school, which would still involve crossing the four-lane Quaker Lane at Seminary [Road] and Janneys [Lane] without a crossing guard, is approximately 1.2 miles, which is over the one-mile limit.”
Acting Superintendent Grace Taylor said that making the walk zone changes has been challenging, and that the school system needs to take a “second look” at the changes.
“In some cases, families identified issues with walk zone information that required additional review and correction, including updates to maps in the attendance zone locator,” Taylor said at the meeting. “We appreciate families bringing concerns to our attention and recognize the frustration that changes to transportation can create.”
School Board members did not comment on the walk zones at the meeting.
There are more than 20 hazardous road crossings near Douglas MacArthur Elementary School.
Miller said that he emailed the school system asking if there was a hazard-free route from his house to MacArthur, and received a response that he would have to file a Freedom of Information Act request to the school system to get answers on their methodology in calculating distances.
“After a number of delays from the city’s FOIA office, the city charged me $15 just to send me PDFs of the walksheds that are already posted on the ACPS website,” Miller said.
Tim Mullins, the father of a MacArthur Elementary student, was notified on June 20 via email that his house was outside the one-mile boundary.
“Just communicate clearly and honestly about what you’re doing and why, and to stop gaslighting parents about how now one mile that was one mile last year is now somehow not one mile, and how obviously unsafe intersections are now suddenly safe,” Mullins told the School Board.
Marta Lagos’s children attend Mount Vernon Community School. She lives in the city’s Arlandria neighborhood, where she said school buses have been eliminated.
“There’s also a lot of people who are drunk or are addicted to drugs who are in the streets,” Lagos said. “I do not feel safe for my daughter to walk from our house to the school.”
Maricela Serrano, who also lives in Arlandria, said that a medical condition has prevented her from walking her child to Mount Vernon Community School. Consequently, her child hasn’t gone to school since classes started on Aug. 24.
“I haven’t been able to walk my child, and for this reason, my child has missed school all this week since transportation has been removed,” Serrano said. “I ask you to please consider my situation, not only mine, but my neighbors, my friends, regarding this transportation issue.”
Taylor said that staff are working to review parent concerns, verify student transportation eligibility and correct assignments and routes. She also said ACPS is working with the Alexandria Police Department to help with crossings at unsafe intersections.
“While it takes time for a transportation system to fully stabilize at the beginning of the school year, we’re actively making adjustments each day based on issues expressed from our families and schools,” Taylor said. “We know we have more work to do.”
