Transportation is the high ticket component driving the need for an elementary school proximity plan, discussed in great detail this week by the School Board of Lee County.

Work began with Davis Demographics for the proximity plan in 2020, so the district could better meet the needs of the students, schools and community, as the district’s School Choice system was developed 20 years ago for a much different district.

Transportation has become a large challenge for the district which, through school choice, lets parents choose the school their child will attend among schools within a particular zone. Parents rank their schools of choice and then have been assigned a school based on a lottery system.

Proximity limits school choice but allows children to attend school closer to where they live and so lessens the number of buses, routes and money needed to get them to class.

Transportation and Logistical Services Executive Director Roger Lloyd said they need 729 bus drivers to get kids safely, and in a timely manner, to school.

“The safety issue is leaving kids on the side of the road in the morning. That is the safety issue we need to be concerned about,” he said.

The district had 626 bus drivers in May 2022 and 595 drivers as of the July 25 school board meeting. That is a 134 driver shortage going into the 2022-2023 school year.

Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier said they have hired 22 bus drivers since the beginning of June.

“Our buses will not operate unless every student has a seat,” he said. “We are very concerned going into this year, getting our students to school on time and in a manner that is safe.”

Bernier said the priority is securing a safe route to school, but it may come at the expense of the time the students arrive based on current staffing positions.

“Our community believes in choice (of schools) as it relates to their school district. I believe you can provide choice up to a certain level,” he said, adding that the district needs to engage with the community regarding balance with choice.

Bernier said the goal is to be able to provide choices that students and families deserve while being better stewards of tax dollars.

There were 689 bus routes in May 2022, with 63 open routes daily. That number decreased to 664 routes as of July with 69 daily open routes. There is a 10 to 12 percent absentee rate of bus drivers.

“We have cut our routes, but in doing so we have done that out of necessity,” Lloyd said, adding that the need to get kids to and from school does not change. “I still need 729 drivers. I am cutting back the routes, so we have a better chance of getting them to school. We are continuing to cut routes. I had two resign today and three tested to get their CDL. We are treading water at this point in time.”

The on-time percentage in the morning hours is 91.4 percent, compared to 74.1 percent in the afternoon hours, as of May 2022.

“My staff most definitely has a daunting task in front of them. Where parents are going to be concerned, and should be concerned, is there are 2,145 students late every day,” Lloyd said.

Multiply that by the number of school days and that translates to 386,000 student tardies.

He said transportation takes a disproportionate share of the district’s operating budget. Right now the district is at a 5.58 percent for general operating funds spent on transportation, compared to the state average of 4.13 percent. Lloyd said there is a cost of $12.9 million to get to the state average.

“This proximity plan in any manner that we do, any kind of restriction helps transportation,” he said.

The proximity plan update also included information about student assignment, another department that is affected with the school choice program.

Student Enrollment Executive Director Soretta Ralph said 3,375 out of 6,588 kindergarten students for the 2021-2022 school year participated in open enrollment and ranked their order of schools. There were 2,835 students that came in after the lottery and did not receive assignment to the school closest to their home.

The continuum of options runs the gamut from least restrictive allowing students to choose any school in a zone, transportation provided to students beyond 2-mile walk zone and guaranteeing all students remain in school until next school level to the most restrictive, which assigns students to schools based on their residential address, transportation provided to assigned school for students living beyond 2-mile walk zone to when boundaries change and no students are grandfathered into a school.

Superintendent’s Office Coordinator Dr. Adam Molloy said they are hoping when they go out for community engagement to land somewhere in the middle.

The new student assignment framework will assign elementary and middle school students to a school based on their residential address. The parents may choose to enter a lottery to attend another school in their zone. In addition, transportation will be provided to assigned schools for students outside of the 2-mile walk zone and some students may be grandfathered.

“These changes are not easy, but we have to make them and we have to have these conversations as a community,” Molloy said.

The conversation will be brought out into the community, as their feedback is vital in which zones are preferred, current sub-zones, or Davis Demographics zones, as well as what level of transportation should be provided and which students should be grandfathered into their current school.

Bernier said it is important to engage in a deeper conversation with the community because 2,145 students a day being late to school is not a number they want to continue to see. He said the important conversation of grandfathering will continue, as it would be six years before they would receive any type of relief for the current school choice system.

“This will dramatically address some of the perception issues,” Molloy said of the proximity plan. “We are trying to magnetize their entire subzone and allow the community of the school to join and develop what they want of that school because it would be their school. Now we would be creating it and have an opportunity for the community and school to be one.”

The new proximity plan will go before the board for approval at the second January 2023 meeting. Before then, input will be gathered in August and September, followed by a developed draft in October. On Nov. 1, 2022, the draft plan will be presented to the board, followed by a refined plan later in November. The first reading of the proximity plan will go before the board on Dec. 6, 2022, followed by the second reading at the first January 2023 meeting.

The implementation of the proximity plan will go into effect in August 2023. Beforehand, families will be informed of the school placement based on their address in March 2023, followed by conducting a lottery for students who wish to choose a different school in the same month.