ST. MARTIN PARISH — Many parents at the St. Martin Parish Schools information meeting Wednesday night had questions.
Specifically how long their child will have to sit on a bus and where the buses would be.
This comes after a circuit court rezoned the district as part of a decade-long federal desegregation case.
I spoke with St. Martin Parish School Board Superintendent Frederick Wiltz, and he explained the district’s transportation plan.
"Transportation will be handled in the same manner it was in the previous school year,” Wiltz said.
“We do provide door-to-door pickup and drop-offs. And there's gonna be slight adjustments made to the bus routes because of the updated zone line changes."
Wednesday I spoke with Tonya Joseph who attended the information meeting.
Her daughter attends Parks Middle School and is now zoned for St. Martinville Junior High School.
Today I told her it was door-to-door service, and her mind was still made up on applying for a transfer.
"No, I'm still gonna transfer her,” Joseph said.
“I was planning on driving her. You know it didn't matter what it was and you know if I couldn't do it her grandparents would."
As for how long these bus rides will be, Wiltz said they are still figuring that out, but it will most likely depend on the neighborhood.
"That's something we're going to be working with the transportation department to determine if there's gonna be adjustments to the particular route,” Wiltz said.
“To be able to maybe pick up a batch of students and then transport those students who are in close proximity to each other, and then have another bus pick up a batch of students in close proximity to each other."
Joseph's daughter currently has under a five-minute commute.
"It is a long commute,” Joseph said. “Especially with all the traffic that's gonna be taking place. I don't want to deal with it."
