As you are aware, we've been discussing the merging of Four Peaks Elementary and Fountain Hills Middle School for the past three months, and at Wednesday night's governing board meeting, the board approved the proposal. Perhaps the most obvious change is the common start time of 8:30 AM and common dismissal time of 3:10 PM, effective for the 2017-2018 school year. As I've shared previously in the Falcon Focus, to accommodate this new schedule, there will be significant changes to bus routes.
The district's Transportation Department has been proactive about the effect the schedule change would have on the system and has been preparing for it. The first change is how we communicate the route schedule. Gone is the old list of stops where parents and staff alike had to comb through multiple pages of tables and cipher data to determine the best option for meeting the bus. We will now use an interactive mapping system that provides a visual display showing your location on the map and the stops closest to your address. This begins today with a DRAFT version of next year's routes.
By providing parents with this draft of the route system, Transportation gains the ability to assess the needs of those we serve and in turn, plan accordingly. Safety, logistics, and service embody the mission or the Transportation Department and as we prepare for next year's changes, two important considerations are route timing and bus capacity.
The draft is just that, a draft. We anticipate changes based on your input and suggestions, with the goal of publishing the final schedule before the end of this school year. The town and Ft. McDowell have been divided into eight separate zones, and these zones can be used to determine which route best suits your student's needs. As an example, you may live near the boundary between zones and the closest stop is located in the zone adjacent to where you live. Your route is not necessarily determined by your zone but rather by what is most convenient to you. The zones are numbered but the routes will remain named after animals and identified by pictures of the animal on the side of the bus to the left of the door.
Each zone shows the "mainline" route as it moves through the zone. The proposed stops are listed numerically. Initially the only stop on any route with timing information is "Stop 1." This will give you an idea of when the route begins and in our final version, each of the stops will have approximate pickup/drop times that can be viewed by clicking on the stop.
Our ultimate responsibility is to operate safely, efficiently, and on time. We are committed to provide service to any student in the district who requires transportation. Thank you in advance for your patience, suggestions and assistance in continuing to make our transportation system among the safest in the nation.
Respectfully,
