Charter school administrators petition for Dayton Public to bring back yellow bus transportation

DAYTON — Charter School administrators in the Dayton area are petitioning Dayton Public Schools Board of Education after they announced in late June that they would be eliminating yellow bus transportation for children in Dayton who attend publicly funded charter schools.

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The principal of Pathway School of Discovery, Nathan Preston, and other charter school administrators and parents took a petition with more than 500 signatures to the Dayton Public Schools Administrative office insisting the restoration of yellow bus transportation.

Petitioners say that the sudden announcement will require students to use RTA buses to get to and from their school buildings.

“Dayton Public Schools board members never consulted with private, parochial and charter school administrators whose schools will be severely impacted. RTA itself was not ready for this decision,” read a press release from petitioners.

Dayton Public Schools Superintendent Elizabeth Lolli issued a statement Tuesday afternoon.

“Dayton Public Schools has followed the Ohio Revised Code transportation rules in determining how to transport all students. The RTA and DPS had been in discussion since last November about routing options for all students that DPS transports,” Lolli said. “The decision to use RTA for secondary students was made last year and included all charter and parochial students. The decision to bus other age levels on RTA buses is based on the need to become more efficient and effective with the routing of all students in Dayton.”

Preston said he is concerned that there is still not a solution with less than two weeks until the start of school.

“We ask for Dayton Public Schools to restore safe transportation provided by trained, school-based transportation professionals for all Dayton school students, as required by state law,” he said.

Cox Media Group