School is just five days away and a big announcement was just made about how your child might be getting to school.
A new restriction this year means magnet school students can’t ride Clark County School District buses. They will be forced to take city transportation buses instead.
Adam Alberico has had so many issues with his 16-year-old son Daniel’s bus route to his magnet school, they’ve decided to yank him from the program.
Daniel went to Rancho High School last year for his engineer-based magnet program. This year, he will be doing an online school because his bus stop was 5 miles away and it took close to an hour to get to school.
At the end of the 2015-2016 school year, the Alberico family made the decision to leave the magnet school. Adam Alberico is so glad they did because this school year brings even more changes.
New this year, due to more students, less money and zoning changes, magnet school students are unable to take CCSD school buses unless you live within the bussing boundaries. Not many magnet school students fall into that category.
“I always told him, you work hard and get good grades, good things are going to come to you, but I have to tell ya, the school district really let me down,” said Alberico.
If Daniel still went to Rancho High from his home over near Hualapai Way and Cheyenne Avenue, it would take an hour and 45 minutes to get there. That trip would require two different RTC buses and at least a mile and a half of walking.
Aside from the long travel times, Alberico also points out the safety concern of kids riding RTC buses with strangers and the dangerous places bus stops may fall.
“Let me ask the school board this,” said Alberico. “Would you ever put your child, grandson or granddaughter who is 13 or 14 years old, on a bus, even 15 -- and have them travel miles on a public bus? You know you wouldn’t. You know you wouldn’t. They wouldn’t! They wouldn’t do it! They would never do it!”
Alberico knows people might hate him for saying it, but he has an idea for how to fix this issue that he feels is upsetting parents and hindering education.
“Raise the taxes if you have to,” he said. “If that’s what you have to do, raise them.”
With the big change this year, CCSD wants to remind everyone about bus safety. That means they are holding safety meetings for parents and students every day this week.
