DANVILLE — A proposed grade realignment of Danville Area School District elementary students would result in two new bus routes and mini routes and $152,000 in additional transportation costs.
“This is the gross cost before any increase in state reimbursement,” Superintendent Dr. Susan Bickford said Thursday.
Adding two new bus routes would reduce riding times for children. The additional routes are proposed for the Riverside/Rush Township area and in the Liberty Valley area. Adding a number of mini routes will use secondary buses that will be available after they complete their runs, she said.
The bus route changes and realigning are proposed to meet a growing elementary enrollment. The realignment would mean third through fifth grades would attend Liberty-Valley Elementary School as an intermediate school and kindergarteners through second graders would attend Danville, Riverside and Mahoning-Cooper.
The Danville School Board may vote on the plan at its meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the high school cafeteria.
The plan, maps of the areas schools will cover and other information can be found on the district’s Web site at www.danvillek12.pa.us.
With the realignment, the district aims to keep classroom numbers at an average of 17 in kindergarten and first grades, an average of 19 in second grade and an average of 21 to 22 in third through fifth grades.
The district will be reimbursed additional transportation costs, Bickford said. The district is reimbursed for about 50 percent of its transportation costs from the state.
The proposed attendance area for Danville Elementary would be south of Route 254, east of Route 54, east and west of Route 642, 430 Columbia Hill Road and greater, Trump Road, McCracken Road and Cameltown Hill Road. Danville Elementary would also take in an area south of Route 11 including Ridge Drive, Toby Run Road, Mount Zion Drive, County Line Drive, River Drive, East Market Street and south to Mill Street and South Railroad Street to Mill Street. It s attendance area would also cover 999 Mexico Road and greater, west of Oak Grove to Creek Road, all of Liberty Valley Road (Route 642) and south, north and south of Route 45 (Potts Grove, Mooresburg and Bald Top Road).
Mahoning-Cooper would cover an area west of Route 54 to Oak Grove Road, Valley West Road, 998 Mexico Road and lower including Narehood Road, Steckermill, Mowery, Hilkert and Klondike roads. It would also include 429 Columbia Hill Road and lower numbers, Sidler, Frosty Valley, Cherokee, Kaseville to Bloom Road, Red Lane to Powder Mill, Bloom Road to Railroad and Route 11 to County Line Road.
Riverside Elementary would cover an area north of Route 254, all of Continental Boulevard and Washingtonville including Strawberry Ridge, Water Street, Church Street and Third Street and Blue Springs Terrace. The area would also include Continental Boulevard to Upper and Lower Streets, Cherry Street, Bloom Road, North Railroad, Ferry Street, Spruce Street, Montour Street, West Mahoning and West Market Street. Its attendance area would also cover Riverside Borough, Rush Township and Mayberry Township.
Bickford said the goals of the transportation plan were to create bus routes with less than an hour’s ride per student.
“An attempt was also made to reduce bus transit times from what is currently being experienced,” she said.
With routes based on current routes for students in kindergarten through fifth grades, the appropriate students would be discharged at the nearest elementary building or at Liberty Valley Intermediate Center and the bus would proceed directly to the building for the other age group to discharge those students. An example is a bus picking up Mahoning-Cooper kindergarten through fifth-graders, going to Mahoning-Cooper to discharge kindergarten through second-graders and going directly to Liberty-Valley with third- through fifth-graders.
The routes are efficient and also take into account ages of students to keep them as simple as possible, she said.
While staggering start times between elementary levels and between elementary and second levels was discussed, the district isn’t proposing this because of disruption to people’s schedules, she said.
E-mail comments to kblackledge@thedanvillenews.com.
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Karen Blackledge
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