School district reverses decision, in part, on busing kids to new school

IOWA CITY – Some Iowa City elementary school students, but not all who requested it, will be bused to their new school this fall after parents protested  that walking would be dangerous.

Iowa City school district Superintendent Stephen Murley said Tuesday some students from the Miller-Orchard neighborhood will be bused to Horn Elementary next school year.

Details, though, were sketchy, with Murley referring most questions to Executive Director of Operational Resources David Dude, who is out of the office until Thursday.

Not every child who wanted busing will get it, however.

Victoria Phillips said she got a letter from the district late last week saying it won't provide free busing to her two oldest children for their 1.2-mile walk to Horn Elementary next school year but she can pay for the service.

“I think that's just ridiculous,” she said.

About 30 students from the Miller-Orchard neighborhood, located west of the Iowa River along Benton Street, were told last spring they would need to walk to Horn next school year. The average walk would be 1.2 miles.

Those students attended nearby Roosevelt Elementary, but the school was closed for good at the end of the school year.

Parents and neighborhood association representatives have argued the route is dangerous because the kids would have to walk along busy Benton Street, up and down big hills and past the driveways of several large apartment complexes.

The district initially stood behind the decision of its bus provider, Durham School Services, that the route was safe.

Four families filed formal appeals.

Murley wrote in an email Tuesday that the reversal to now provide some busing was based on an analysis of hazardous conditions for walking.

Elementary school students who live more than two miles from their school get free busing. Exceptions can be granted for hazardous conditions.

In May, Dude said 1,504 regular education students had exceptions to the two-mile rule.