District 207 staff presented a transportation update recommending the district provide free ACE transit passes to students who qualify for fee waivers or free and reduced-price lunch and who live at least one mile from their school.
Superintendent Mary Kalu and transportation staff said the program removes both cost and distance as barriers and that the district plans to load quarterly amounts onto student transit accounts. “We believe that this is the best solution for providing that barrier,” Mary Kalu said.
District leaders outlined implementation details: eligible students must sign up, passes will be loaded quarterly and usable approximately between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., and the district will track usage by counts (the number of students who enrolled and total cost) rather than by sharing student names, staff said. “Students that are eligible for it will have to go in and sign up for it,” a district staff member said.
The district also said it is redesigning maps and timetables to make PACE coverage easier for families to read and will post those on the district website. Staff said some PACE routes do not offer full-district coverage and that families might need to walk to stops in some areas.
Monitoring and follow-up: Counselors will check in with participating students, and the district will report aggregate participation numbers and total cost to the board. District staff also said the quarterly-load design attempts to limit unused credit: if a student does not use the full quarterly load, future loads will be adjusted.
Discussion vs. decision: The bus-pass recommendation was included in the tentative budget materials and presented for board information; the transcript did not record a final board vote at the meeting specifically to adopt the pass-loading program. Staff said administrators will track outcomes and that the program aims to encourage eligible families to apply for the fee-waiver process that unlocks the benefit.
Clarifying details: Staff stated the program targets students on fee waivers or free and reduced-price lunch who live a mile or more from school, that students must sign up, and that the passes are loaded per quarter. The district plans to provide quarterly usage and cost summaries to the board.