By: Michael Wang <[email protected]>

Listening to reggae or hip hop music on his iPod, sophomore Daniel Auer would walk the routine 10-to-15-minutes trip to school.

Last year, Auer lived in downtown Carmel, which was in close proximity to the school. His house was located in an area that was designated as a walk zone, so riding the bus was not an option for him. As a result, it was mandatory for him to obtain his own transportation to school, so he decided to walk.

“The buses wouldn’t come into my area because it was part of the old walk zone,” Auer said.

However, next year there will be a new policy implemented that will affect students like Auer who live in a walk zone. According to Superintendent Barbara Underwood, beginning next school year, bus transportation will be offered to all students. This was approved by the school board during October of last year. Underwood said she proposed the idea after hearing concerns from parents who had children living in the walk zones.

Beverly Gilbert, transportation employee and mother of children living in the old walk zones, remains skeptical about the new policy.

She said, “I am personally not too fond of the new policy removing the old walk zones. It’s going to cost a lot of money, and I think that that money can be used in other areas more effectively and can have a bigger impact in a different area.”

Ron Farrand, director of facilities and transportation, said there was a committee comprised of parents that met to discuss revising the current walk zones.

He said, “As a part of the committee’s work (the members of the committee) heard input from other parents from around the school corporation. There was opposition to walk zones. As a result of the public input, (Underwood) recommended to the Board of School Trustees that walk zones be eliminated for the (next) year school.”

According to Underwood, the new policy will begin next year because it will require until next year to change bus routes and to buy new buses.

Farrand, who is in charge of the route planning and bus purchasing procedures, said, “We do our route planning during the summer. We will look at all routes and either add on to existing routes, rework existing routes or add new routes. New buses are purchased as part of our annual Bus Replacement Fund. We have placed our order for new buses, which will arrive this summer. We are adding 12 full buses at a cost of about $100,000 each.”

In addition to the 12 buses, Farrand said, “This year we did consolidate some existing routes, which resulted in about six available drivers, so we would need an additional six drivers.”

In regards to this new policy, Underwood said, “Many parents are very pleased that their children will not have to walk.”

However, she added that though buses will be available for everyone, even for those students who used to live in the old walk zones, students are not required to ride a bus to school. They can still walk, ride a bike, drive or receive a ride from their parents to go to school.

“There is really (no) reason for anyone to object to the change.” Underwood said. They should be grateful for that.”