At 12:15 PM on a Tuesday, six students wait for the number eight bus to roll up in the empty lot as a musty scent wafts through the air. The city bus piles on more students than ever, hauling them back and forth from the various Ann Arbor Public high schools. The city bus is now one of the only options for high school students who split enroll between Community High School and the other Ann Arbor public high schools.
On June 14, the Ann Arbor school board eliminated the midday shuttle buses between Community High School and the other public high schools to shave off $230,184 from the existing $188.5 million budget. This amount was part of the approved budget to cut nearly $3.4 million from the school system altogether.
For students who already have the challenge of making their schedules work for split enrolling, this adds one more obstacle to their day. Sarah McCurrach, a sophomore based at Huron High School, is one of those students.
“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to dual [enroll] or even come at all, if I couldn’t get rides,” said McCurrach.
The daughter of two working parents, McCurrach has had to make adjustments to include Community as a part of her learning experience. But according to McCurrach, who struggles with learning as a result of dyslexia, those adjustments are worth it.
“I get a better connection with my teachers, I feel more comfortable asking for help and it is a more intimate learning environment,” said McCurrach.
McCurrach is not the only student who has had to reconsider split enrolling. John Boshoven, a counselor at Community High School, estimates that this year, around 50 students are split enrolling compared to around 100 students that split enrolled last year. But he is not sure how much of that is related to the cancellation of the shuttle buses.
“I think it’s been a factor this year, but lack of available classes at the big schools are more of a factor,” he said.
Others point out that cutting the shuttle buses has made split enrollment difficult for students, and could have been a factor in the smaller number. Liz Margolis, the spokeswoman for the Ann Arbor Public schools, feels that the city bus does not provide the best alternative to the shuttle buses that the Ann Arbor Public schools provided last year.
“It is very hard to make the timing work,” she said. “Some split enrollment can be timed at Pioneer because service is more often, but it is almost impossible to use AATA for mid day service at Huron and Skyline.”
Costing 75 cents a ride, or a $29 value pass for students, the city bus has also been a more expensive alternative. Julia Jaquery is a sophomore at CHS who needs to split enroll at Huron to take choir. She says that last year’s shuttle buses were a more convenient and cheaper way to get around.
“The timing worked out nicely and the shuttle buses did save gas and effort,” she said. “Paying for gas is unfortunate and it would be expensive to pay for the city bus all year too.”
Although the shuttle bus cuts have caused difficulty to students who split enroll, some conclude that it may be the best option instead of stripping funds from educational programs. Jaquery realizes that it has made transportation difficult, but when it comes to the bigger picture, she sees it as one of the better alternatives.
“It cuts down options, but I’d much rather they cut the buses than the music or art department or sports. It’s harder to get around, but we still have pretty good options for education and extracurriculars,” she said.
Margolis emphasized that these cuts have been difficult to make. She stresses that there are no good places to cut from anymore, and the “fat” from the budget has already been trimmed.
“Programs that we and the community value are being impacted,” she said. “The district has been attempting to keep the cuts from the classroom, or impacting students, but that isn’t possible any longer.”
