U46 to hold meetings  about high school transportation changes

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Updated: November 16, 2011 1:44AM

ELGIN — Last year, Karen Baker of Bartlett said her daughter only had to walk as far as the street corner to catch her bus to Bartlett High School.

This coming school year, the 15-year-old will have to walk a mile.

“This is a big concern for me, because it impacts my daughter’s safety,” Baker said.

Baker was one of 11 people who spoke during the public comment portion of Monday’s Elgin School District U46 Board of Education meeting. Nearly all, however, spoke against the district’s recent hiring of a chief of equity and social justice.

And, Baker said, she hasn’t heard many complaints from other parents about U46’s recently announced changes to high school transportation for the coming school year.

“I’m concerned quite a few parents may not know about this,” she said.

U46 Chief Operations Officer Jeff King said he’s gotten six phone calls about those transportation changes. The transportation department has gotten 15 to 20, he said.

That is “a lot,” said U46 Safety Officer John Heider­scheidt, although it represents a small percentage of the more than 12,000 students who attend high school in the district. And that plan includes elementary and middle schools, too.

District officials will answer questions about the new transportation plan — to pick up and drop off high school students at the elementary and middle schools nearest to their homes rather than at dedicated neighborhood bus stops — at two meetings this month for parents and community members, the district announced Monday.

Those meetings will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18, in the auditorium of Bartlett High School, 701 W. Schick Road; and 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 22, in the auditorium of Elgin High School, 1200 Maroon Drive.

High school registration should be completed by that time, and parents should be notified of their students’ pickup and drop-off sites by then as well, King said.

High school students eligible for transportation now will be picked up at the elementary or middle schools closest to their homes, the district said. If no elementary or middle school is within 1½ miles of a student’s home, or if there is a “designated hazard” between their homes and the nearest school, the district will determine a neighborhood stop for them, it said.

It’s something U46 never has tried before for its high school students, officials said.

But that will save the district between $750,000 and $1.25 million in the 2011-12 school year, as the state continues to cut education spending, particularly for transportation, the district has said.

The state of Illinois currently still owes U46 $5 million for transportation alone for the 2010-11 school year, according to U46. And the state budget recently signed by Gov. Pat Quinn will cost the district at least another $2.5 million in the coming school year, King has said.