JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (WHAS11) -- In a little more than a week, more students will have to find an alternative means of getting to Jeffersonville High School, possibly by foot, after Greater Clark County Schools expanded its "no transportation zone" for the high school.
"We are just learning about this and people are scrambling to figure out what they can do," parent Shannon Baird said.
She and other parents who live in the NTZ have homes in a subdivision which is across the street from a path with a sidewalk.
"They are going to have to walk in the grass or on the street which is dangerous, the speed is 45," she said of Middle Road, "In the winter time, it's cold."
Baird said one of her two children, who is a senior, drives his sibling to school, but the sibling has after-school activities where Baird will have to find a solution. The trip, she said to and from school totals 3 miles and would take 30 minutes in each direction.
"It's not what we wanted but out of all the alternatives it was the least impactful of all the alternatives," Greater Clark County Schools Superintendent Dr. Andrew Melin said.
Melin said part of the reason for the expanded zone was to alleviate a problem at River Valley Middle School, where he said students who were arriving to school by bus were still getting there 10-15 minutes late each day. He said all students at River Valley arrive by bus or car.
District leaders, Melin said, considered changing start times for the district, buying more buses and hiring more drivers. He said the district is 4 drivers short already.
He said leaders on Tuesday discussed parents concerns and came up with a compromise of "pick-up" points within the NTZ to prevent students from having to walk all the way to Jeffersonville High.
"We believe with these pickup points it will be a compromise in terms of people being able to find their way to a close proximity to where they live inside the NTZ," Melin said, "Its a way to show families we care about them."
Melin said he hoped to have a finalized plan for the pickup points by July 20 and notify parents by letter.
The 2018-2019 school year starts August 8.