Linn-Mar reducing bus routes as staffing shortages persist

MARION — Kids in about 300 families in the Linn-Mar school district no longer will be bused to school this fall as the district reduces routes because of ongoing staff shortages.

The district also plans to implement its Safe Routes to School plan — which began in 2018 — to encourage more students to walk and bike to school this fall.

The bus driver shortage is not unique to Linn-Mar, with schools In Iowa and across the nation struggling to hire enough bus drivers to transport students.

“Every day last year you didn’t know if you were going to be able to get all the kids to school,” said David Nicholson, Linn-Mar’s chief financial and operating officer.

The state requires schools to bus elementary and middle school students who live more than 2 miles from their school and to bus high school students who live more than 3 miles from their school.

To attract more bus drivers, the district is beginning to offer health insurance benefits to drivers, who already are eligible for IPERS, the state’s public retirement system.

Last year, about 3,800 students were transported to and from Linn-Mar schools and extracurricular events every weekday, according to the transportation department.

Savings

Reducing the number of bus routes is estimated to save the district about $230,000 this school year, Nicholson said. This helps the district get closer to its goal of cutting $4.3 million from the overall school budget over the next two years.

“With our driver shortage, it was hard for us to even get kids from Oak Ridge to the aquatic center for swim practice because of our lack of drivers at times,” a distance of about 2.5 miles, Associated Superintendent Bob Read said.

Some athletics coaches, he said, are being trained to drive student athletes to and from events. “It’s a huge responsibility,” he said.

Last year, the district also spent about $150,000 more on charter buses to drive students to and from activities. The increase is because charter bus companies also are having difficulties finding drivers and keeping up with demand., Nicholson said.

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Who’s affected?

About 300 families in Boulder Peak Intermediate, Excelsior Middle School and Linn-Mar High School will be affected by the reduction of bus routes. Linn-Mar buses no longer will run routes in the following neighborhoods:

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Safe Routes to School

Linn-Mar’s Safe Routes to School plan focuses on designating safe routes for students attending Echo Hill Elementary, Hazel Point Intermediate, Boulder Peak Intermediate and Oak Ridge Middle School.

Those four schools were chosen because the neighborhoods around them are growing, said Hilary Hershner, regional transportation planner with the Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization, which reviews and approves transportation plans in the region.

Studies show that walking or biking to school helps students’ minds and bodies be better prepared for learning, Hershner said.

For Boulder Peak Intermediate, district officials are working on a safe route for students who live south of 29th Avenue to bike or walk to the school. Possible intersections where additional safety features could be added are 29th Avenue/Winchester Drive or 29th Avenue/44th Street.

For now, parents can sign up their Boulder Peak students living south of 29th Avenue for a shuttle bus that will pick up students at Wilkins or Linn Grove elementary schools.

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Less walking, biking

The number of students walking and biking to school began to decline in the 1970s, according to the National Center for Safe Routes to School.

In 1969, 48 percent of children ages 5 to 14 usually walked or biked to school. About 41 percent of children in grades K-8 lived within 1 mile of their school.

By 2009, only 13 percent of children usually walked or biked to school, and 31 percent lived within 1 mile of school, according to the center.

As vehicle traffic increases, parents worry it’s unsafe for their children to walk or bike to school. They drive them to school, adding even more traffic and sustaining the cycle, said Hershner, of the Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization.

But walking and biking are “legitimate modes people are using to get to where they’re going,” Hershner said. These people need to be accommodated, she said. “We all take responsibility for safety. If you’re a driver, you are driving a ‘death machine.’ You have to be careful.”

Some of the barriers to walking and biking to school are the large size of some residential neighborhoods, traffic, weather and crime, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Those concerns were echoed in a survey of Linn-Mar parents and students, which drew nearly 1,200 respondents.

‘Walking school buses’

District officials are encouraging the creation of “walking school buses,” where kids in each neighborhood meet at a central location to walk to school together, said Read, the district’s associate superintendent.

“I’m not talking about a kindergartner walking all the way to school by themselves at all,” Read said.

Walking school buses also could include “champions” — parents or community volunteers — walking with kids from their neighborhoods to their school, Read said. All volunteers require a background check.

Linn-Mar’s safe routes to schools plan was created with input from families during focus groups, public engagement sessions and surveys.

The plan includes adding trees to city rights of way to help reduce vehicle speeds and act as shade for kids walking to school. This also is a priority because of the many shade trees destroyed in the August 2020 derecho. Another traffic “calming” technique is adding speed tables or speed bumps along school routes.

The Safe Routes to School plan also can be used by the city and school board to pursue grant funding for more sidewalks and other safety measures, according to board documents.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com