最新杏吧原创

ST. LOUIS 鈥� More than 1,000 high school students in 最新杏吧原创 will need to catch a MetroBus to get to first period by 7:15 a.m. next month.

The 最新杏吧原创 Public Schools board on Tuesday approved an emergency transportation plan to reduce the number of school bus routes by one-third for 2024-2025. High school students who live near Grand Boulevard or Kingshighway will switch from school buses to city buses.

鈥淲e know this will not be easy for everyone. Change never is. But working as a community will allow us to take the first steps toward a sustainable transportation plan that we can all be proud of,鈥� Square Watson, SLPS鈥� chief operations officer wrote to parents Wednesday.

The district lost its contract with main transportation vendor Missouri Central this summer. The bus company used a fleet of 228 vehicles 鈥� 181 conventional yellow buses and 47 short buses to serve 14,000 eligible students.

In the upcoming school year, SLPS expects to have 75 to 90 yellow buses and an unknown number of smaller vehicles from multiple transportation vendors. Most of the 19 companies under contract with SLPS operate shuttles, minivans or rideshare apps for privately owned cars. The cars and drivers do not have to meet state standards for school buses, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

In addition to the MetroBus passes, the five-point strategy to compensate for the loss of buses will also include new bell times, more parent drivers, fewer bus stops and more 10-passenger vans. More details including bus stops and routes will be released in the next month before school starts Aug. 19.

Bell times will shift earlier or later by 5 to 50 minutes on every campus under the plan to create three tiers of schedules: 7:15 a.m. to 2:12 p.m. for most high schools and middle schools, 8:20 a.m. to 3:17 p.m. for some middle schools and half the elementary schools, and 9:25 a.m. to 4:22 p.m. for the remaining elementary schools.

Three high schools 鈥� Roosevelt, Sumner and Vashon 鈥� have the most significant changes with a start time moving from 8:05 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. and end time from 3:02 p.m. to 2:12 p.m. A proposal released before the meeting Tuesday included Collegiate in the earlier shift, but the high school shares a campus with Central Visual and Performing Arts and needs a staggered schedule.

Later start times for high schoolers, which are recommended for healthier sleep, were not feasible because it would require too many buses, district leaders said.

鈥淲e realize this is not in line with the 鈥楬ealthier Schools鈥� bell times we have been discussing. We will continue to examine these options but handling this emergency situation had to be our priority,鈥� Watson told parents.

The bus crisis is a symptom of the bigger problem in 最新杏吧原创 鈥� too many schools for a dwindling population of students.

There are 16,542 students in kindergarten through high school across the district鈥檚 68 schools and another 11,370 in 35 charter schools. By comparison, Springfield (Missouri) Public Schools has 24,000 students in 50 schools.

Despite the closure of eight SLPS buildings in 2021 for low enrollment, there are at least 20 schools remaining with fewer than 200 students. Many students are driven across the city to dozens of magnet schools instead of neighborhood schools in walking distance.

A redrawing of school boundaries and more closures are possible in the next year, according to Matt Davis, vice president of the SLPS board.

鈥淚f we had a student assignment plan that made more sense based on geography, if we had fewer schools with more kids ... you could accomplish a lot of these goals鈥� for better schedules and transportation, Davis said at the meeting. 鈥淪o that sounds like the 2025-2026 heavy lift.鈥�