At the Carbon County Board of Education meeting last Wednesday, the officials announced the school district will cut a bus route that has been in effect since the mid-1990s.
In a letter sent mailed July 30 by transportation director Regina McCourt to homes in the Castle Gate subdivision, the district highlighted the Utah Office of Education’s criteria for funding bus routes. The office funds routes based on elementary students living one and a half miles from school and secondary students who live two miles from school or the nearest bus stop.
“Previously, Carbon School District picked up the cost of transportation for students living in Castle Gate Subdivision due to the hazardous conditions of no sidewalks and only the edge of the road for students to walk on to and from school” and the other bus stops.
But with the recent completion of the Spring Canyon Trail by the county the students now have a way to get to Sally Mauro Elementary and Helper Junior High and the bus stops there.
“With this new walkway, transportation by school bus can no longer be justified” for the students living in the subdivision.
The board had expected some parents to appear to comment on the situation at the meeting during the comment period, but none showed up. However, board member Walt Borla did still have some concerns.
“We need to be sure some signs are put up along that road so that kids are instructed to use the trail and not walk along the road,” he told the other board members.
The board said the district will continue to run the school bus route through east Helper.
[dfads params='groups=4969&limit=1&orderby=random']
[dfads params='groups=1745&limit=1&orderby=random']