SCHOOL DAYS TO CHANGE

Building a school on the edge of town brings benefits like room for potential growth and ease of access but building it outside of major residential neighborhoods also brings transportation issues.

Case in point: When the new Owatonna High School opens this fall, Owatonna Bus Company will have 700 new riders needing to get there.

“We have a two-tiered bus system,” Owatonna Public Schools Superintendent Jeff Elstad said at the most recent school board meeting.

With the current system, “we’re able to bring kids in (to schools), drop them off, then pick up other kids and bring them back – which helps with the efficiency of our busing system.”

With hundreds of new riders, something had to change. In this case, it’s the start and end times of the school day.

“The alternative to any change like this would result, quite frankly, with the bus company having costs that are onerous,” Elstad said. “In turn, those costs come to our taxpayers and to our school district.”

Those costs would likely come in the form of new buses for the district. The base price for a new full-size bus starts at more than $100,000.

“It’s really just looking at how we can efficiently and effectively safely transport our students to school, in conjunction with the bus company,” Elstad said. “They have a master router who spends hours figuring out the best way for us to do this.”

When Owatonna Bus Company approached the district with the proposal to shift start and end times, members of the school board recognized potential problems.

“At our work session, there was a concern about the later (start) time of our K-5 learners,” Elstad said. “Many folks in the community might have an 8:00 work start time.”

The district has always provided early morning supervision for elementary age students, he said, “and we would continue to do that, and offer that opportunity so that parents who do need to drop children off would still be able to get to work on time.”

It wasn’t a “quick decision,” board member Lori Weisenburger said.

“I just want to make sure the public knows and understands that we vetted this issue, and we know it does have some impact on folks,” she said. “It’s going to mean change and adjustment but given the price tag of buses that would be required to do it otherwise, we still think it’s the right choice.”

The district’s current transportation policy provides free busing to students who live two miles or more from the school they attend. Families within a two-mile radius may pay a fee for bus transportation.

New School Days

Starting fall of 2023

• Elementary- Kindergarten-Grade 5: 8:10 a.m. to 2:40 p.m.
• Middle School- Grades 6-8: 7:50 a.m. to 2:20 p.m.
• High School- Grades 9-12: 8:20 a.m. to 2:50 p.m.