Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Transportation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Parents and students urge Indian Prairie CUSD 204 to add busing on Eola Road, citing high traffic and safety risks
Summary
At the July 13 board meeting, parents and students asked Indian Prairie CUSD 204 to revisit bus eligibility for Colony Lakes and adjacent neighborhoods after citing high annual average daily traffic counts on Eola Road and individual safety concerns for children with IEPs and 504 plans.
Parents, students and health professionals urged the Indian Prairie CUSD 204 Board of Education on July 13 to expand bus eligibility for neighborhoods that walk alongside Eola Road, arguing present criteria fail to capture safety risks.
Alicia Smith, a former district teacher and longtime resident, told the board "Our walk alongside Eola Road to Fisher Middle School has an AADT of 18,600 vehicles between Dorothy Drive and Montgomery Road," and later cited a section of Eola with "an AADT of 37,800 vehicles." She said the district previously used an incorrect 2020 AADT and accused the district of showing a "negative bias" toward her neighborhood by continuing to deny busing for middle‑school students who live less than 1.5 miles from Fisher.
"We have the most dangerous walk for a 204 middle schooler," Smith said, asking the board to provide busing for the 2026–27 school year.
Several other parents and students made similar points. Veronica Andrade said the district’s most recent safety evaluation for the Eola Road walk route uses 2022 data and "does not accurately reflect the current numbers for a typical school day," and she asked the district to update the evaluation before the new school year so bus eligibility can be reassessed. "This information can easily be obtained before the start of the new school year," Andrade said.
Leslie Perkelis described a personal example of why the mileage rule may not be sufficient: her daughter has an IEP for anxiety and weighed about 70 pounds as a sixth grader; Perkelis said her daughter became so overwhelmed walking home last year that she called 911. "My daughter's IEP, her anxiety and her small stature ... make this situation different," Perkelis said, asking the board to "consider the whole child, not just the mileage on a map."
Nurse Vanessa Sautau urged the board to consider developmental and cognitive factors that affect middle‑school students’ ability to judge traffic speed and gaps. Student speaker Owen Martin, who will attend Fisher next year, described frequent speeding and heavy traffic at crossings and asked the district for busing "so my friends and family can get there safely." Several speakers said other nearby neighborhoods under similar distance criteria are receiving busing, which they said suggests inconsistent application of the policy.
Board President Miss Donahue had no immediate policy response during public comment; the board’s public rules note that "follow‑up will be provided by an administrator as appropriate." The board did not take a formal vote on transportation changes at the meeting. Parents asked the district to verify current IDOT data and to re-run safety evaluations before finalizing bus eligibility for 2026–27.
What happens next: speakers requested a district update and an updated safety evaluation using current IDOT figures before the next school year; the board’s public comment guidelines indicate administrators will follow up as appropriate.
