KAUKAUNA – All students who live within two miles of school but have been taking the bus will have to find another way to get to school next year following a policy change by the Kaukauna Area School District Board of Education.
The board voted at its Tuesday evening meeting to extend the minimum busing distance to two miles, according to the Post-Crescent.
Currently, students in 4K and Kindergarten qualify for busing if they live outside of ½ mile, students in grades 1-4 qualify if they live outside of 1 mile, and students in grades 5-12 qualify for busing if they live outside of 2
miles.
(Download the final draft of the policy here.)
Over the past several years, the shortage of bus drivers in the Fox Cities, and across the state, has created an increasingly difficult challenge for the district to maintain its current busing model, Superintendent Mike Slowinski wrote in a memo to the board.
The board also modified its policy on door-to-door service for 4K and kindergarten students. Instead, those students will be picked up at designated stops, rather than the bus coming up to their driveway.
The Kaukauna Area School District is one of the few districts in the state, and virtually the only one in the Fox Cities, not to have a 2-mile walk radius for all students, according to Slowinski.
State law requires Districts to bus students who live outside of 2 miles but anything inside of that is not required.
While KASD’s current practice goes above and beyond the state requirement, this is likely not sustainable for the future, Slowinski said.
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