As of the 2012-2013 school year, LACES High School will no longer be providing busing to students who live within a five mile radius from the school.
Five miles appears to be no formidable distance – nothing, at least, to truly concern parents as to whether or not students will be available to still go to the school. Yet, even so, it does – seemingly facile as it is – have a real impact that we must observe as a ripple effect amongst schools.
The simple reality is that students are no longer being effectively served by schools. As a result of budget cuts, a number of schools are making changes – both large and small, and we find that even nuanced differences affect real lives. We need to increase accessibility of schools to all students – instead, we find that we are cutting away at accessibility and making going to school just that much harder for local students.
“The transportation system provided by educational institutions allows more students the opportunity to receive education,” Johnnie Han, Burbank High school sophomore, explains. A seemingly small and insignificant five miles can mean getting up an extra hour early for some students as they try to catch the Metro – $1.50 a ride. It can mean cutting down on a parents’ time and raising household expenses for students only just inside the five-mile radius. It’s careless, and the school’s “no nonsense” “no exception” policy to all its students only cuts away from students’ abilities to attend school conveniently.
It’s important, of course, to qualify all of this with the knowledge that extending the school radius of “not allowed to bus” to five miles seems to pale in comparison to larger issues, like cutting school days for students. But both have real impacts – and this issue is only one of many that we need to eliminate – School is, at all times, the most valuable resource we can offer to others. And to cut away at this resource and our accessibility to it cheapens our ability to use these resources, and appreciate their values.
Hi Keren,
Interesting article. I definitely know how difficult transportation to school can be. I do like how you write about the importance of the issue at hand as it discusses the potential effect of the issue.
I suggest you use less Em dashes in your writing, which I’ve noticed in a few of your articles. The problem with the Em dash—as you may notice – is that it discourages efficient writing. It also—especially in short pieces of writings—disrupts the flow of a sentence and can make it difficult to read. There are also a few other punctuation and capitalization errors.
Also, I think your title could be more descriptive and informative. I know that the title suggests the effects of the budget cuts, but your article mainly focuses on the transportation issues, while ending on a broader note. However, if you meant to talk about the effects of the budget costs as a whole, you should include and expand upon more issues such as cutting school days, lack of teachers, etc.