While our move to the current campus in 2013 has brought many positives, the more remote location has made transportation difficult for many families. Offering busing will help ease our current families ability to get their children to school each day. It will also help reach beyond our current families and make ESAA more accessible to all SASD students. It will enable us to offer ESAA as an school option to those who could not consider it it in the past because of transportation issues. Adding transportation is integral to ESAA’s growth.
In an effort to better understand our community members’ need for transportation options, we asked current families and those interested in attending ESAA, to complete a survey in January. We had a great response with over 80 people participating. Overwhelmingly, both current families and families interested in attending ESAA, responded that they would utilize busing for the 2015-16 school year.
With this interest, we have developed eligibility guidelines for using transportation during the 2015-16 school year. The ESAA guidelines follow the SASD guidelines. They are:
ESAA students are eligible for bus transportation for the 2015-16 school year if:
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They reside within the boundaries of the Sheboygan Area School District. If they do not reside within the SASD boundaries, they may use a drop off/pick up location within the district boundaries.
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They live more than two miles from ESAA. Students who live within the Pigeon River school boundaries will follow the Pigeon River bus eligibility.
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Students must ride the bus three out of the five days a week on the route they are using — the morning route, afternoon route or both.
The March 19th PTO meeting will focus on transportation. Please join us to find out more about eligibility and ask questions you may have about transportation. Families that meet the eligibility guidelines, will also have the opportunity to sign up for busing at the meeting. If you are unable to attend the PTO meeting, eligible families will receive an email from their child’s classroom teacher asking them to fill out the transportation form to let us know if, and how, busing will be utilized for the 2015-16 school year. This will help us determine routes and whether we will have one or two buses. A second bus will be added if we have enough new students attending ESAA next year. New students are necessary because the funding of transportation comes out of ESAA’s budget. With the current state budget proposal, we will need the extra revenue to fund a second bus. Please let any families you feel may be interested in attending ESAA know that busing will be available, and invite them to contact our Enrollment Coordinator, Brittany Hattabaugh, or the Dean of School, Susan Griffiths, at 459-0947 for more information or a tour of the school.
