Bus riders need to check web for new stops

By SUSAN LEATHERS
Brentwood Home Page
Last spring, Williamson County Schools’ board of education approved a districtwide rezoning on a scale that had never been seen before in the county. Though local public schools open for the 2011-12 school year Thursday, the impact of the rezoning won’t be totally understood for several weeks, and in some cases longer.

But one thing the district does know. “Districtwide, our numbers are going to exceed our projections,” said WCS spokesperson Carol Birdsong.

“The economy’s bouncing back, at least here. People are building and buying,” Birdsong said, a fact confirmed by the district's planning and zoning expert Susan Parker.

“My daughter lives in Spring Hill and in her neighborhood, seven or eight houses are going up where there were just lots,” Parker shared.

True attendance numbers won’t be known for several weeks, however. Parker said her office receives daily attendance numbers for the first few weeks of school in order to track trends.

It may take a few years to fully gauge the rezoning’s impact. A grandfathering policy allows all junior and seniors to stay at their current high schools and for their young siblings to remain in their current schools and to feed into the former patterns, If a “grandfather request” form was filled out. If not, the siblings will have to attend the school they are now officially zoned for, Birdsong said.

Several new teachers have been hired, and will continue to be hired, as the district continues to determine what and where enrollment is increasing. A new teacher orientation Friday was attended by close to 200 new teachers, Birdsong said. That figure includes some teachers who started at the end of the 2010-11 school year and hires made to replace retiring teachers or teachers who have left the district.

Time to get back on the bus
One change this year that’s a result of both the rezoning and the new school budget concerns bus stops. Almost all have of them have been consolidated within subdivisions to eliminate frequent stops.  To determine exactly where and when a child will be picked up, click here to use the district’s WebQuery system.

Parents in a subdivision that determine their child’s stop is more than .25 miles from their home or families who live on a rural or main road, can call the transportation office at 472-4952 or WCS Routing Specialist Allison Nunley at 472-4111 to discuss the situation.

Because students who live in Brentwood’s Southern Woods area were given a choice of schools to attend, a link to the Sunset Middle and Ravenwood route sheets will not display through WebQuery. However, these families can click here to find out where the closest bus stop is to their home.

According to Nunley, the Web Query software is updated nightly for the most accurate and complete information.  "Parents may obtain bus route and school zone information 24 hours a day, seven days a week on the website,” she said. "We encourage parents to locate their child's route information as early as possible."

Bus transportation is provided to more than 20,000 students who travel to and from school each day.  The district employs approximately 200 bus drivers.

Safety, both on and off the bus, is the transportation department's top priority.  All buses are inspected before the school year begins and throughout the school year and drivers are trained throughout the year.  All buses are equipped with camera boxes, and cameras which are used for videotaping are located on many of the buses.

WCS’s Grandfather Provision
To avoid any confusion or surprises, families affected by the district’s rezoning last year should review the policy, Birdsong suggested. According to board policy, some students  rezoned due to the opening of a new school or the rezoning of an existing school may request and be grandfathered to continue in the former zoned school when certain criteria is met:

If they are a rising 5^th grader in elementary school, a rising 8^th grader in middle school, and rising 11^th and 12^th graders in high school.

The Sibling section of policy states:  When a student is attending an out of zone school, that student and his siblings may attend through the highest grade level of the school, provided that each newly enrolling sibling must submit an out of zone request for approval by May 15.  Any such attendance may be denied or rescinded by the Principal for failure to follow school procedures.  A sibling may only apply to attend an out of zone school if there is a sibling currently attending that school who will be enrolled in the school the upcoming school year.  Parents are responsible for transportation all the way to and from the out of zone school.

'In Focus' can answer most questions
To help families prepare for the new school year, the district’s just released edition of In Focus is dedicated to all things “Back to School.” There, parents will find details on school hours, the school calendar, immunizations, bus routes, school lunches, dress codes and more. Access it through the district's website, www.wcs.edu.

Lunch prices will stay at $2.50 for elementary students and $2.75 for high and middle school students. At schools where breakfast is offered, the price of breakfast will be $1.25 for elementary students and $1.50 for middle and high school.