No-Transport Zone

Dexter Community Schools continues to feel the national shortage of bus drivers. Last year, \DCS prepared a series of contingency plans to provide consistency of bus service for our families. These plans included rolling route outages. Most of the staffing issues that arose were handled internally and were created so as not to disrupt service to any students. This worked for the majority of last year and there were only two weeks we had to shut down a bus route. This year the situation is worse and we have already had days where we had to cancel selected routes entirely. This is inconvenient and stressful for students, families and staff. With at least two drivers scheduled to leave over winter break, the administration has proposed that the Board of Education adopt a No-Transport Zone around the DCS central campus.

The District has scheduled three informational meetings at which affected families can learn more about the proposal, ask questions, and express concerns.

November 28, 2023 7:30pm IN PERSON at the Mill Creek Cafeteria
November 29, 2023 12:00pm via ZOOM: click this link to register for the 12pm webinar
November 29, 2023 7:30pm via ZOOM: click this link to register for the 7:30pm webinar

Please review the information below to fully understand the proposal so you can ask informed questions at the meetings.

Supplemental Information

Dexter Crosswalks, Signals & Hawk Lights

No -Transport Zones

Young 5-8th Grade

No-Transport zone includes:

All students in town (Westridge not included)
Dexter Crossing
Walkabout Creek
Hilltop
Huron Farms

All students within the no transport zone have a sidewalk that connects their house to the schools

Families within no transport zone will need to transport their students to and from school.

There will be a bus at the bus hub at 7:30am to take students to DHS and Creekside.

Dexter High School

No-Transport zone includes:

All students in town (Westridge not included)
Dexter Crossing
Walkabout Creek
Hilltop
Huron Farms
Bent Tree Drive, including Boenaro Ct., Sandfield Ct., and Millview Ct.
Weber Drive, including Kurtland Ct. and Jananne Dr.

Families within no transport zone will need to transport their students to and from school.

There will be a bus at the bus hub at 7:30am to take students to DHS and Creekside.

The Full BOE Presentation tab has slides showing examples of various neighborhood routes to schools.the bus hub.

MDE FAQ

The following items are selected from a Michigan Department of Transportation FAQ. Access the full FAQ on their website.

Isn't the school district required to transport my child?

School districts are NOT required by law to transport regular education children. Michigan Compiled Law (MCL) 380.1321 outlines the obligations of the school district IF its board of education elects to provide transportation. Under Article 3 of the Revised School Code, the school district is obligated to provide for the transportation of a special education student if the Individualized Educational Planning Committee (IEPC) has determined that the transportation is a specialized service which is included within and necessary to carry out the student's IEP.

Is there a law about how far my child has to walk to the bus stop?

No law specifies the maximum distance a student may walk to the bus stop.

Is there a specified distance that must exist between school bus stops?

The lights on a school bus which are used to notify other traffic of an upcoming stop must, by law, be activated 200 feet from the stop. Thus, bus stops must be at least 200 feet apart.

My child spends over two hours a day just riding the bus to and from school. Is there a maximum riding time in the law?

There is no maximum riding time in the law for children in kindergarten through grade twelve. Child care licensing regulations establish a maximum riding time of 60 continuous minutes for the transportation of preschool children.

Full BOE Presentation

Proposed Timeline

11/9/2023–Nothing has been decided yet, but staff had to determine a possible timeline in order to create the proposal. Here is what they are proposing:

11/6 - BOE presentation
11/28 & 29 three community forums (in-person & zoom)
12/11 - Finalize plan with BOE
December - share information with families - phone call, mailing, emails, DCS website
1/8 - No Transport Zone begins