Parents asked. Did CMS listen? 4 things to know about controversial bus stop plan
Lavida Mickens is a teacher in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and parent to a ninth-grade student attending the Northwest School of the Arts.
She’s still unsure how she’ll get her son to school.
School starts in about a month and Mickens, who lives about 13 miles from the magnet school in the historic Derita neighborhood, is one of thousands of families to whom CMS is offering a new bus stop plan being rolled out this year.
The service, called Express Stops, is designed to cut down on two-hour ride times and costs to the district. It will impact about 5,200 students enrolled in about a dozen full and partial magnet high schools, including Northwest School of the Arts. But it forces parents such as Mickens to figure out how to get their children to bus stops that will be 2 or 3 miles away from home — the downside of the new service for some.
“We live closer to the school than where the express stop is, which would be Julius Chambers High School,” said Mickens, who teaches at a school in Matthews about 30 minutes away. “There is no way to take him to that stop. We have no idea how he’s getting to school yet.”
Since the district announced earlier this year the express stop roll-out, other parents have voiced similar concerns.
Adam Johnson, CMS’ executive director of transportation, answered questions about express stops Wednesday and where parents can turn if they still have concerns.
Here are four things to know about CMS’ Express Stop service:
Parents asked. Did CMS answer?
Express Stops will affect students who attend the following schools:
Central Piedmont Early College High School
East Mecklenburg High School
E.E. Waddell
Harding University & Phillip O. Berry Technical Academy
Hawthorne & Military Global Leadership Academies
J.T. Williams Secondary Montessori
North Mecklenburg High School
Northwest School of the Arts
P.A.C.E. (district-wide program)
South Mecklenburg High School
UNCC (Central Campus)
Johnson says the department added stops after hearing parents’ concerns over the lack of enough stops. Now there are 40 express stops across affected CMS schools.
“We worked with our community partners to set up stops at park and rec centers,” Johnson said. “So we’ve done things to address those concerns that developed.”
Johnson says the Express Stops plan is “pretty much set,” but as officials get into the first few weeks of the school year stops could be reevaluated.
“If we do need to add something or just relocate it from one school to another, we’ll certainly do that,” Johnson said.
CMS still needs bus drivers
CMS operates a fleet of nearly 1,300 vehicles, including regularly running school buses, spares, activity buses, and other department maintenance and administrative cars/trucks. About 113,000 students, or 80%, use the district’s transportation services.
The department employs about 1,250 staffers. Right now, CMS has 51 bus driver vacancies and 53 drivers on leave. Last year, the district ended the school year with 928 drivers.
School board member Melissa Easley, who will be applying for a spot in the Northwest School of the Arts for her daughter next year, told The Charlotte Observer she understands parents’ concerns.
She’s not a fan of express stops, but the district’s transportation staff is trying hard to avoid further cuts.
“Wake (County Public Schools) already does express/consolidated stops for magnet schools and have for several years,” Easley posted to Facebook on Wednesday. “This is a statewide issue, and while Express Stops are not the perfect solution, it’s better than cutting altogether.”
Johnson said CMS transportation’s annual operating budget is about $80 million, and it was reduced by about $3.2 million in 2021, forcing cuts in miles traveled and hours worked, among others.
“This is not just a CMS issue,” Easley said.
The Express Stops service is saving CMS money
“An average bus gets around 6 miles per gallon,” Johnson said. “The bus does about 100 miles or more per day. We’re looking at savings probably on the order of tens of thousands of gallons of fuel, and multiply that times from an average price of $3 per gallon. It’s going to be tremendous savings for a district.”
CMS stands to also save on maintenance costs, and it could possibly get by with fewer drivers, Johnson says.
Parents will learn Express Stops locations soon
Over the course of the next week, CMS’ transportation department will send out mailer information to the thousands of impacted students regarding their express stop, Eddie Perez, of media communications, told the Observer. Many parents, like Chrissy Premeaux, whose son will attend Central Piedmont Early College, still don’t know where their stop is.
The information will include the location of the stop, the bus number assigned to them, and the specific times for drop-off and pick-up. If students or parents have any questions or concerns, they can contact their school or transportation at (980) 343-6715 or email ExpressTransportation@cms.k12.nc.us for additional information.
This story was originally published July 27, 2023 at 10:08 AM.
