Starting in the fall, seventh and eighth graders will be using public transportation to get to Cincinnati Public Schools.
Six School Committee members voted in favor of the change during Monday evening’s business meeting. The only non-nay vote was Commissioner Mary Weinberg, who was not present at the meeting.
The board has been working for seven months to close a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall. Former Superintendent Ilanetta Wright proposed cutting yellow bus routes early in the budget process, but the board repeatedly rejected the proposal due to community outcry and safety concerns.
On Monday, with less than a month until the start of the new school year, the board voted to make changes to the district’s transportation plan that would close the remaining $6.2 million budget gap.
When Metro had special routes to school that set them apart from the general population, seventh and eighth graders rode Metro buses. When Southwest Ohio Regional Transportation Authority eliminated those special routes in 2021, the district opted to put seventh and eighth graders on yellow buses. Parents of those students could continue to use Metro.
More: Student Metro buses will no longer operate: SORTA and CPS leadership issue joint statement
Going forward, all seventh and eighth grade students will travel via Metro on existing scheduled routes.
Here’s what you need to know:
How many students will this change affect?
Last year, 1,814 seventh and eighth graders rode the yellow buses.
How many yellow bus routes will be cut?
Approximately 106.
How much money will this change save the district?
Moving seventh and eighth graders to Metro would save the district $9.1 million.
How many people joined Metro last year?
Last year, 1,119 students chose to use Metro services.
Are there any exceptions?
yes.
Yellow bus service will be provided for students with special needs.
Additionally, students in grades 3 through 12 at the Spencer Center for Exceptional and Gifted Students will continue to ride the yellow buses.
Seventh and eighth graders from K-8 elementary schools will also use the yellow buses, including Academy of Multilingual Immersion Studies, Hartwell, Academy of World Languages, Roberts and Roselawn.
What about students at Oyler and Riverview?
Seventh and eighth graders at Oiler and Riverview schools will use Metro.
Will families have the opportunity to practice their child’s route with their child before school starts?
Yes, these dates are not yet available.
Will this new system result in children changing buses multiple times?
According to the school district, no student will ever change schools more than once, and most students never change schools.
What about safety?
Board Chairwoman Eve Bolton said Monday that safety was her top priority, but she also was concerned that public school students have fewer transportation options than private and charter school students because Ohio law requires public school students to ride yellow buses to school.
There were problems in February, with multiple reported assaults involving teenagers as kids transferred buses downtown at the end of school, but Metro told The Enquirer at the time that most students didn’t need to transfer buses. Metro said only 200 kids transferred at Government Square that afternoon.
Plus: “I don’t know where I am.” A student’s subway journey on the first day of school
The Enquirer asked Cincinnati Public Schools about any safety measures the district might implement on Metro buses during the school year, and the district said that information will be released at a later date.
The Enquirer will be following this story and providing more details about Cincinnati Public Schools’ transportation plans in the coming weeks.
This article originally appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Public Schools will eliminate some yellow bus routes in 2024