“We are very proud of the fact that we can provide transportation for our sophomores,” said Fairfield Schools Superintendent Billy Smith. “We believe this will have a positive impact for approximately 800 families at the high school.”
And beyond, to school families in younger grades, he added.
“In addition, parents of children in grades kindergarten through 10th can now look forward to an additional year of transportation services,” he said. “This extra year of service has been very well received from our parents and our community.”
The 10,000-student district eliminated all high school busing in 2011 as part of sweeping budget cuts to maintain the district’s financial solvency.
Under Ohio school law, public school systems are only required to provide busing to students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
Adjacent Lakota Schools also eliminated high school busing the same year for the same reason and has not since restored the transportation service.
Fairfield High School enrolls more than 2,400 students.
It’s too early, said district officials, to know the impact on traffic and parking availability at the high school campus, because those grounds now also contain the new Freshman School and its new addition of vehicles.
Tom Weiser, business director for the school system, said since the new school year only started last Tuesday — delayed from Fairfield’s usual late August start due to construction of three new schools — “there is no real way to know how many 10th graders are using the bus service.”
“We would literally have to count the number of students who get off the bus and head to the high school during drop off, and again in the afternoon,” said Weiser.
Last week saw a first in the history of the Butler County school district as three new schools — Fairfield Freshman, Central and Compass Elementary Schools — opened simultaneously.
The district has also reconfigured its grades offered in its other schools, affecting thousands of students and their families.
Fairfield officials also said the cost to provide busing will be approximately $175,000 per year starting with the 2017-2018 school year. This cost includes, fuel, maintenance of buses and hourly rates for drivers.
The bus service expansion did not require the hiring of more drivers or purchasing of new buses, according to school officials.
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