DENVER — Parents asked Denver Police on Thursday what they're going to do about an increase in traffic in the Capitol Hill neighborhood this school year after Denver Public Schools announced some bus routes across the district will be cut.
At a DPD District 6 community meeting on Thursday morning, parents from Morey Middle School shared their frustrations over the cuts.
"These schools are downtown schools with teeny tiny little streets that are going in one direction, and there is no parking, there's no loading zones, there's no crossing locations for these kids to cross safely," said Janna Steele, a DPS parent, at the meeting.
Steele's daughter, Evie, will attend Morey Middle School for the upcoming school year. Morey is home to a gifted and talented program that students from all over the district attend.
With some of the bus routes being cut, those students will have to be dropped off and picked up in a cramped neighborhood known for its congestion.
"It is a safety issue," Steele said. "We don't feel comfortable with our kids walking these streets."
"I'm like worried," Evie added. "I don't feel safe, and obviously these streets, they [are] not made for this kind of attention."
DPD District 6 Cmdr. Kimberly Bowser heard about the school district's decision to cut some bus routes on Wednesday when parents alerted her. She told 9NEWS following the meeting that she planned to connect with DPS to find possible solutions to the potential increase in traffic in Capitol Hill as more parents will likely have to drop off their kids.
"Definitely we’re going to have to work collaborate with DPS, and we’ll have to do some outside-of-the-box thinking to figure out how we’re going to address this," Bowser said. "But we are committed to making sure our children feel safe coming to and from school."
The Steeles hope DPS considers reinstating the bus routes and understands just how much of an impact it could make the neighborhood.
"Honestly, a big traffic jam is what I envision this place to be," Steele said. "I believe a commute that takes about 13 minutes now will take at least 25 to 30 minutes at best, probably about an hour at worst."
Steele said Evie still plans to attend Morey but not without some concerns.
"A lot of my friends are going to Morey along with me," Evie said. "I’m just worried about the beginning and the end of school."
"I feel very anxious," Steele added. "I am wondering how many kids need to be hit by a car on one of these streets before somebody realizes what an irresponsible decision this was."
A post on the Morey Middle School Facebook page stated that the principal is hosting a virtual meeting next week to talk about carpooling opportunities and another post shared a need for more crossing guards.
A DPS spokesperson shared a statement that said, "Denver Public Schools (DPS) has had to make some adjustments to our transportation plans due to a change in school start times and a continued bus driver shortage. DPS will be implementing Healthy Start Times for the 2023-2024 school year. Studies have shown that middle and high school students who start school later in the morning have better attendance rates, better academic outcomes and higher graduation rates than those schools who have earlier start times. With these changes, DPS Transportation Services has worked very hard to limit the disruption of bus services, but six of DPS’s more than 200 schools will see some level of transportation change.
"Additionally, DPS, just like many other schools across the country, continues to face a bus driver shortage. While we anticipate having more drivers than the 2022-23 school year, we are not at capacity.
Morey Middle School will maintain transportation services for its highly gifted and talented students in the Southwest, Central and Far Northeast regions. Morey will also maintain general education and special education routing, as well. No school district can cut services to a special education student that include transportation services in their Individual Education Plan, or IEP.
The decision on which services were impacted by these changes was not taken lightly. It was based on the number of students who regularly utilize each bus route and the number of riders on each route who receive free and reduced lunch.
We hope that we have a successful fall hiring season and that we are able to continue to provide transportation services that will allow our students to thrive."
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