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Board weighs busing options for flood‑displaced Appletree daycare as parents press for next‑year plan
Summary
Officials discussed whether to continue emergency afternoon busing for Appletree Daycare next school year after flooding displaced the provider; staff warned morning pickups would add 20–30 minutes for some students and could require added drivers or expense. The board asked staff to return with concrete counts and cost estimates.
At the Rock Ridge School Board meeting, Bob Buss updated members on requests from Appletree Day Care after flooding made the provider’s Virginia facility unusable and the program relocated across the district boundary near Laurentian.
Buss told the board that the district approved emergency afternoon transport through the end of the school year and is being asked to consider both morning and afternoon runs for the coming year. A board member noted, “About 13 kids” currently use the service in the afternoons, a small but operationally significant group.
Board members raised operational constraints: morning pickup of Appletree children would require rerouting and would make those students “20 to 30 minutes late for school every day,” Buss said, referencing bell‑time and routing conflicts. The district also lacks the driver capacity to add regular morning runs without added expense, and Buss said that keeping the current emergency arrangement costs the district nothing because the students are currently catching a bus that already runs to the high school.
Members pressed for specifics before approving any long‑term change. One member asked whether busing the children after school to one of the three nearby centers might be a lower‑cost option; board discussion repeatedly returned to the need for exact counts and a financial estimate.
The board did not make a final decision but asked Buss to return with student counts and a cost analysis at a future meeting so members can decide whether to extend morning service or continue the afternoon emergency arrangement. Buss said he would begin routing work and report back at the next or subsequent board meeting.
