Cincinnati, Ohio – Beginning this autumn, Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) plans to make a major shift on the way seventh and eighth graders get to school. The district will switch the students from yellow school buses to regular Metro buses in an apparent move meant to address budgetary restrictions.
With five members in support, the CPS school board decided at a recent business meeting to implement this change. Board members Kendra Mapp and Mary Wineberg were absent and did not participate in the vote. This decision ends a seven-month process aimed at addressing a multimillion-dollar budget imbalance. Former superintendent Iranetta Wright first proposed cutting yellow bus lines as a financial cut-back. But this idea was repeatedly turned down because of general unpopularity and community worries about student safety.
The board accepted the new transportation plan, therefore removing a $6.2 million budget hole, as the first day of classes looms less than a month away. When the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority stopped specialized school routes, CPS historically had moved seventh and eighth graders to Metro buses. With 1,119 students choosing Metro service last year, parents had the choice even if the district had returned these students to yellow buses afterwards.
Realizing a cost savings of $9.1 million for the district, the change back to Metro impacts 1,814 middle school students and results in the removal of almost 106 yellow bus routes. Although this shift is all-pervasive, some exceptions exist. Students needing certain accommodations will keep getting yellow bus services. Likewise, students attending K-8 elementary schools like the Academy of Multilingual Immersion Studies and Roberts as well as those in grades three through twelve at the Spencer Center for Gifted and Exceptional Students will also take yellow buses.
Dealing with questions about the change, the district has reassured that most students won’t require more than one bus transfer. Though exact dates have not yet been revealed, CPS also intends to provide practice runs for families to familiarize themselves with the new paths before the school year begins.
Safety is still a top priority, particularly in view of many events involving teenagers near bus transfers around downtown earlier this year. Metro has reassured that, with just 200 students making transfers in the afternoons at Government Square, the great majority of students do not require bus transfers at major hubs. Metro workers will be present at all school orientation sessions, Government Square, and the Northside Transit Center during the first days of classes in order to support safety and assist families and kids.
Metro’s head communications and marketing officer, Brandy Jones, highlighted the system’s excellent safety record and route options’ efficiency.
“We believe that CPS’ decision to add the remaining 7 th & 8 th graders to our system is testament to our superb safety record and robust and efficient routing options available to CPS families,” Jones wrote to The Enquirer.
As the new school year approaches, the community watches closely to see how this significant transition will impact the daily commutes of hundreds of CPS students.