Remember that survey we have been talking about? Its coming! Here is the article: With ongoing community growth and development spurring a nearly 3,000-student annual increase in enrollment, Katy Independent School Districts student transportation system is facing mounting pressure. To address this growing problem, district leaders are searching for a more sustainable solution and are asking for community help to identify the best path forward. Katy ISD is asking all parents and community members to take a transportation survey to provide feedback on current use and potential changes such as new bus route modeling and modified school bell schedules. The survey will be available through Wednesday, Jan. 21. Our community and our families remain our greatest resource when it comes to issues that impact peoples daily lives, Superintendent Alton Frailey said. Its important that we understand their experiences and preferences, so we can build a sustainable transportation system that considers these values and that can effectively serve our students now and into the future. The survey covers four topics: current transportation methods, utilization of district transportation, transportation preferences, and school start and end times. Every person with a current email address on file will receive a personal survey invitation. Parents and community members will also be able to access the survey online at katyisd.org. Paper surveys will be available upon request, and surveys in Spanish will be sent home with students at select schools across Katy. Community feedback is an important component of our decision-making process. I encourage everyone to participate, Frailey said. It is only by working together that we will be able to make Katy ISD the best educational experience for every student. Once the survey closes, district leaders will use the results to provide transportation recommendations. Their recommendations will be presented to trustees in February or March. Enrollment surpassed 70,000 students this year and is projected to top 90,000 by 2023, causing district leaders to characterize the current transportation system as unsustainable. The key variable for providing transportation services is the availability of drivers. This is a challenge many school districts face, as it is a well-documented problem across the region, state, and country. In August 2012, the district caused an uproar when it changed transportation eligibility requirements from 3/10 mile to approximately one-half mile for elementary pupils and to one mile for junior high and high school students. District officials blamed a shortage of bus drivers for eliminating more than 50 bus routes for about 6,000 students then. Routes were added in 2013 with the opening of Tompkins High School, but the driver shortage has been an ongoing problem. In a November 2014 transportation report, the district had 47,000 students transported per day with 241 bus routes making 7,400 stop services in addition to 117 special-needs bus routes with about 1,000 stop services. In 2013-14, KISD buses drove more than 2.3 million miles for the regular program, 1.7 million miles for the special program and 1.7 million miles for auxiliary programs. It has 378 regular-needs buses and 153 special-needs buses. The district also has 260 support vehicles that are maintained by the Transportation Department. READ FULL ARTICLE
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 14:31:48 +0000
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