Lower Merion drops plan to expand high-school walk zone to 1.5 miles next year

The Lower Merion School District has backed off a plan to end busing service for high schoolers living within 1.5 miles of Lower Merion High School, following prolonged pushback from families.

After reviewing information about hazardous roads, “we believe there are sufficient safe walking routes to school” with a 1.5-mile walk zone, Superintendent Steven Yanni said in a message to the community Monday. “That said, we strive to be responsive to the concerns expressed by our community; therefore, we have decided to retain a one-mile walk zone for our high school students for next year.”

The expanded walk zone, which would have eliminated busing for 500 students, was proposed by the district ahead of a planned shift in schedules this fall aimed at getting high schoolers more sleep. In order to push high school start times back from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30, the district is also rearranging middle and elementary schedules so buses can keep running staggered routes — a necessity even in a wealthy district, given an ongoing driver shortage.

But to ensure that no school starts too early or late under the new scheduling model, the district shortened the time for bus routes — creating a need for efficiencies. The district is also starting full-day kindergarten this fall, expected to further add to busing demand.

Parents and students spoke out against the proposed walk zone expansion, objecting to long walks in inclement weather and warning about dangerous walking routes. District officials said in February that they were working with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to assess road conditions, and that the agency’s feedback would factor heavily into its decision.

On Monday, Yanni did not provide any specifics about that feedback, except to say the district had “worked with PennDot to develop a comprehensive understanding of the safety of the intersections and roadways our students travel as they walk to and from school.”

But he said that because the district is not implementing the 1.5-mile walk zone, it will have to make changes elsewhere — with some middle school buses possibly arriving earlier than the start of school, meaning staff will provide an extra 15 minutes of supervision to those children.

At the high school level, some buses may arrive after the 8:30 start, Yanni said. He said students whose buses arrive without sufficient time for them to get to class will have their lateness excused.

To ease the pressure on the transportation department, Yanni asked that families who don’t live in the existing walk zone opt out of transportation if they don’t plan to use it — allowing the district to exclude their students from bus routes, though they could opt back in if needed. And high school students who receive parking passes will not be provided bus transportation, Yanni said.