Alexandria city and school board debate bus proposal

Is this the beginning of the end of school buses? Not exactly.

But would you be okay with your kid taking a city bus — instead of a traditional yellow school bus — to get to class? It’s a proposal that Alexandria City Council and the Alexandria City School Board met about Monday night.

There are some DASH bus routes that already exist and that already provide direct service to the campuses of Alexandria City High School. In the proposal, if a high school student lives within a quarter mile of one of those routes, they would take the city’s DASH bus instead of a school bus.

Students who need accommodations would still take a traditional school bus, as would elementary and middle schoolers. This proposal would, initially, only apply to high school students.

It turns out, buses can be controversial, with some supporting the idea and others saying it needs to be tossed.

“When I just did my research on, for example, any other school system in the entire country of our size that had this kind of project, they’re rare, and a lot of them turned around and went back on it,” said School Board Member Tim Beaty.

Those who support this say it’s a way for the city to save, potentially, hundreds of thousands of dollars since the DASH bus already runs many of the same routes as school buses.

But others say it could mean school bus drivers losing their jobs. Many of them showed up to the meeting Monday.

And while this idea isn’t off the table yet, Michelle Rief, the Alexandria City School Board chair said, “After several months of thoughtful discussion and deliberation, the school board has determined that we cannot support moving forward with this proposal.”

Swapping school buses for public buses in Alexandria is still just a proposal at this point.

“Whether we like it or not, we have to communicate, engage and work together,” said Christopher Harris, vice Chair of the Alexandria City School Board. “This is dysfunction.”

If this were to move forward, it wouldn’t start until the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year.
For now, the Alexandria City Council and school board will continue discussing the idea.