Bus, scheduling changes on tap for Albemarle schools

As Albemarle students start school today, many will have longer walks to bus stops, and older students will be taking fewer classes at a time under a new scheduling plan.

To save about $400,000, the school division consolidated bus routes and established fewer bus stops that are more centralized. Elementary school students will have to walk as far as three-tenths of a mile, and older students will be required to walk up to a half-mile.

“It’s a lot of a change,” said Josh Davis, the schools’ transportation director, adding that while numerous families have objected to the longer walks, the division is standing firm, except in cases where students might be put in danger.

The idea is to save money during the economic crunch, so that more money can be spent in classrooms and on educational programs, Davis noted.

Kira Heeschen, a junior at Albemarle High School, said that she’ll be fine walking a block away to catch her school bus, as opposed to being picked up by her house, though it’s not exactly a welcomed change.

“I’m not lazy or anything,” Heeschen said, “but now I’m going to have to walk down the street, and it’s just going to make things a little more difficult, because now I can’t just look out my door and see when the bus is coming.”

Heeschen said that she’s heard more confusion out of classmates than complaints.

“A lot of people are kind of confused as to why they have to change their bus stops after it’s been the same way for so long,” Heeschen said.

For school administrators, the answer is simple: It saves money. And the savings come at a crucial time, as division had been forced to cut more than $6 million from its budget compared with the budget adopted a year prior.

Among the cuts were 22 teaching positions, which will mean classes size will be one student larger for grades 4 through 12.

Davis noted that the bus stop changes will have some added benefits, as many students will spend less time on buses and the longer walks mean more exercise.

The transportation department’s routing analyst has manned about 80 to 100 phone calls per day for the past week, as many families have tried to get clarity on where their students should be dropped off, and at what time.

Dozens of the calls, Davis said, have been from parents requesting that the bus stops be placed closer to their homes. The school division is not abiding by those requests, except for special circumstances, such as when students could be placed in danger.

In one case, the department changed a bus stop that would have had students picked up on Jarmans Gap Road, for example, because Davis feared students might fall into a nearby ditch.

Parents have been asked to make clear under what circumstances their children can be dropped off: whether they can be dropped off by themselves, for example, or if they need to have a parent or other designated person present. Davis said that bus drivers have been directed to be cautious as the new system is put in place, and to take students back to school to be picked up by their designated person if there’s any doubt about the circumstances in which students can be dropped off.

Once in school, many students will have quite different class schedules. Middle and high school students will be under an eight-period hybrid schedule. Under the new system, some classes will continue to be held every other day for a full school year, but many will be held daily for only half a year.

The new system will allow students to take more classes per year, but generally fewer classes at a given time. Fine arts, advanced placement and foreign languages are among some of the courses that will be offered over a year-period to allow students uninterrupted instructions.

Billy Haun, the county’s assistant superintendent for student learning, said the overwhelming majority of course requests have been granted. Of the 14,000 requests at Albemarle High School, for example, 98 percent were granted, Haun said, as reported by principal Jay Thomas.

Heeschen said she’s glad to have the opportunity to take more courses per year.

“I’m looking forward to trying it out,” she said. “It’s given me a lot more opportunities to take different classes, so that’s going to be fun.”

The change will require teachers to lead more classes in a given year, though fewer at one time.

Under the new system, high school and middle school students will take class exams after winter break. In the past several years, they had taken the exams prior to winter break.

Haun said that school administrators will be sending out a survey, probably in late September or early October, to get feedback from parents and students on the new system.