Parent urges board to expand busing for secondary students, citing dangerous walking routes

During public comment at the Feb. 23 Papillion La Vista Community Schools Board meeting, parent and taxpayer Stephanie Barton urged trustees to address what she described as a "critical safety gap" in district transportation policy.

Barton told the board middle-school students in her neighborhood must walk up to 72 minutes one way to La Vista Middle School and traverse high-speed streets and intersections such as Cornhusker, 72nd and Giles. She requested three immediate actions: (1) amend policy 5701 so hazardous-route protections apply to secondary students, (2) audit Eagle Ridge walking routes during peak commute hours, and (3) exercise statutory authority to bus secondary students who live more than 2 miles from school.

Barton said the district's transportation rationale that routes within 4 miles are a parental responsibility is outdated and does not account for deployed military parents or families with rigid schedules. She cited "25 citations near LVMS in just 1 week and 2 students hit by vehicles in January" as evidence of risk and argued that expanded busing would reduce congestion and accident exposure. Barton also cited district budget figures and compared Papillion La Vista to neighboring districts (Bellevue, OPS, Gretna), which she said bus students outside 2 miles.

Superintendent Dr. Rickley responded that the board does not typically engage during public comment but acknowledged the three specific requests and said they would be referred to the Buildings, Grounds & Finance committee for review and possible return to the full board. "We bring that back to our buildings grounds finance committee, and then they decide if they wanna bring that back to the whole board," Rickley said.

Next steps: The board will consider the petition and the superintendent said staff will bring the requests to the Buildings, Grounds & Finance committee, which will determine whether to recommend action to the full board.