A limited number of in town school bus rider seats will now be available for hardship cases through Dublin ISD.
At the Monday, Oct. 21 DISD school board meeting, Superintendent Melissa Summers explained routes outside of city limits had been expanded with several in-town stops added to each bus.
“There is available space on each bus but they will be available for hardship cases only,” she said.
The district had a meeting for parents regarding hardship transportation Tuesday, Oct. 22 and were preparing to explain how to apply if bus rides were needed. Each campus will have a form to fill out and hardship cases will be determined on an individual basis.
An example of one hardship case would be a family with a single vehicle whose dad left for work at 5 a.m. leaving the mom with no vehicle to get her child to school.
Summers explained that in town rides has ceased during the COVID-19 pandemic due to needing to space students out, however, finding bus drivers now presents its own set of problems.
“Our police chief and SRO are trained as sub bus drivers,” Summers said. “My assistant has a bus route. It’s very difficult to find bus drivers.”
Summers also provided an update in regard to projects taking place at the Secondary School.
Currently, the district is in the process of getting a clean survey done of the ag barn with hopes to sell it in the future.
A new ag barn will be built to aid FFA students on campus.
The new greenhouse is getting close to being completed with hydroponics starting to go in.
“We will have an open house for the community once it is completed,” Summers said.
The road behind the school leading to the softball fields recently got help being resurfaced thanks to the city and the county and Summers offered the district’s gratitude.
All classrooms on the Secondary Campus now have electronic door locks instead of keys to aid with school safety.
Doors are automatically locked when shut.
Over Thanksgiving break, carpeted floors at the high school will be redone since the floors have not had any improvement since they went in when the building was built.
“Our custodial staff works so hard but they can’t get them clean after this long,” she said.
The school board also heard from local developer Joseph Borges on his proposed gated manufactured home community on Harris Street behind the public works yard on Norton Street.
The school board asked Borges to come speak to them about the project to stay updated and regarding items of student safety and transportation.
“If you have any questions or concerns this is the time to ask them. He has been gracious enough to come and speak to us, and give us his time, so we appreciate that,” Summers said.
Board President Bob Cervetto echoed Summers’ statements and clarified why Borges was asked to come.
“Our concern is not city council stuff. The only reason that we asked to dialogue with Joseph is we are looking at traffic flow which means depending on how this works out we may need to do something different with our kiddos from campus to campus. We are trying to keep our dialogue with Joseph open so that however this plays out, we won’t react to it, we will have a plan going into it,” Cervetto said. The board president said they were not sure of the timeframe whether it was going to be six months from now or 12 months from now, but the district wanted to start working on a plan to get kids safely from campus to campus or from campus to home.
“I’m all about growth in our community so that’s not an issue. Our transportation - getting kids to and from home, to and from school, that’s our concern,” Cervetto said.
Borges presented the board with the background on the project and answered questions from the board.
The developer is set to purchase the property for the project next week, and after that, Borges said he would be able to provide more answers since site plan work will begin.
“I want to be an asset to this community,” he said. “We’re just not to that point yet.”
Kids crossing railroad tracks on their way to school was a major concern expressed by the school board and Borges stated that a grant from TxDot is being researched to potentially help build a pedestrian walkway that would provide safe walking space for kids and adults alike.
Summers asked Borges why there was going to be only one entrance and exit associated with the project. He explained that this was a recommendation of the firm helping him with the project for safety reasons of those living there and another exit may be added if required for fire codes.
School board member Pat Leatherwood shared a history of the railroad in Dublin and how it complicates travel between campuses currently. School board member Blanca Martineau suggested Borges form a local group of community-minded citizens to aid him in the project.
Many board members expressed concerns about how the railroad would affect traffic surrounding those living in the community, and getting their kids to school on time.
“I want our dialogue to continue throughout this process, and we are all on the same page doing what’s best for the kids in this community,” Summers said.
Borges told board members that he was open to discussing any concerns they had, and asked Board Member Pat Leatherwood to share his number with the board.
“I think what it is, it’s the fear of the unknown. It’s panic, and change is difficult and hard especially in a smaller community. There has been quite a bit of change over the last four years since I’ve been in town, and there was hoopla and craziness up front, and then it all panned out. A lot of the answers we are looking for until the studies are done. Studies cannot happen until the rezoning and then the property ownership gets transferred, so there are a lot of answers you don’t have,” Board member Ryan Mitchell said. “Answers will come and more conversations will be had.”