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Residents, alder urge MMSD to allow middle-school bus for Inanna Elementary students north of Schroeder Road
Summary
Parents, neighbors and Alder Barbara Harrington McKinney asked MMSD to permit 35 elementary students who live north of Schroeder Road to ride an existing Toki Middle School bus to improve attendance and safety. The board did not take immediate action on the request during the June 23 meeting.
Parents, neighborhood leaders and Alder Barbara Harrington McKinney told the Madison Metropolitan School District board on June 23 that about 35 Inanna Elementary School students who live north of Schroeder Road struggle to get to school and would benefit from riding an existing Toki Middle School bus that stops near their apartment buildings.
Speakers described the walk route as crossing busy Schroeder Road, passing a gas station and an intersection where a traffic signal may be unreliable, and said those conditions have driven poor attendance. “They felt that riding a bus would have helped them improve their attendance,” Linda Koss, a longtime district employee and neighborhood resident, said after visiting the stop.
The Green Tree Neighborhood Association and other residents presented a proposal to assign those elementary students to ride the middle-school bus, which would drop them a half-block from Inanna Elementary. “We’re asking you to approve of this proposal to allow those students to ride the middle school bus,” Jay Russell, president of the Green Tree Neighborhood Association, told the board.
Alder Barbara Harrington McKinney read district transportation policy during public comment and noted state-law references that determine eligibility for yellow bus service. She said district policy provides yellow transportation for elementary students who live more than 1.5 miles from their attendance-area elementary school or who reside in areas identified as “unusually hazardous zones.”
Board members and district staff did not vote on a change to bus assignments at the meeting; Superintendent Dr. Gothard said the district is contracting external support to study long-term growth and transportation planning and that staff would review the proposal. The agenda’s consent items included other transportation-related approvals, but the specific request to place elementary students on a middle-school route was not moved or decided at the June 23 meeting.
Speakers asked for an interim fix so students can arrive safely and on time for school, and alder McKinney offered to work with the district on solutions. The board said staff would follow up through the operations work group and appropriate administrative channels.
