KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Shawnee Mission School Board reduced its number of bus routes for high school students and approved new boundaries for two elementary schools at a board meeting Monday night.
The school district reduced the number of paid high school bus routes. High schoolers who live within 2 miles of their high school will no longer have transportation provided by the school district starting Jan. 5, 2023.
The change will impact all Shawnee Mission School District high schoolers who live within the range, aside from Shawnee Mission North students located west of Interstate 35, the district says.
The decision comes as the district's contracted bus provider DS Bus Lines faces a driver shortage. Before the pandemic, there were 200 drivers in operation. In the 2021-22 school year that number dropped to 158 drivers, and has now reached 133 drivers for the 2022-23 school year. There are 19 routes that currently do not have a driver.
11 new drivers have been hired with the company since July, but others have left the company. Drivers are offered a $1,000 signing bonus.
1,600 high schoolers in the district will continue to receive the bus transportation service from the district. 284 high school students will be impacted by the change.
Superintendent Dr. Michelle Hubbard said the decision is not an action anyone would want to do in the middle of the school year, but that it was necessary.
“This is not the situation we’d’ve hoped to bring forward at this time, but we understand this is not a challenge that’s unique to Shawnee Mission," Chief of Student Services Christy Ziegler said. "We’re hopeful staffing will improve and we can return services in the future."
Additionally, new boundaries were approved for Briarwood and Tomahawk elementary schools. The new boundaries are set at 79th Street, Roe Avenue and 83rd Street and will go into effect for the 2025-26 school year. The plan was recommended by Hubbard and a boundary work group consisting of stakeholders.
The school board approved the boundaries by a vote of 7-0.
The school district says that Briarwood is currently and would continue to be over capacity, while Tomahawk, is being rebuilt to hold additional students. Tomahawk Elementary School is set to open in 2025.
Data from the school district says ideal school capacity is between 525 to 575 students. If the boundaries were not changed, Briarwood Elementary would be projected to have around 664 students by the 2026/27 school year, while Tomahawk Elementary would have 247 students. Under the new boundaries, Briarwood is set to have around 500 students, while Tomahawk is on track to have 412.
All 2025-26 Briarwood fifth, sixth graders and siblings enrolled as of Monday will have the option to remain at Briarwood Elementary, if they live in the old boundaries but not the updated boundaries for the school. No transportation will be provided to these students.
Briarwood students will have the option to apply to transfer to the updated boundaries starting in August 2023.
