ADA COUNTY, Idaho — Starting Monday, Aug. 8, the West Ada School District's new bus route system will begin.
The changes affect how "school of choice" students will get to and from school. The changes were approved by the school board last winter to go into effect the 2024-2025 school year.
David Reinhart, the school district's chief operating officer, told KTVB that in previous years, the district provided over 200 routes. However, they could only find about 160 to 170 drivers for the school year.
Last year, the district evaluated what would be the most sustainable options moving forward with more routes than bus drivers.
"The decision was made that we would limit school of choice bussing and create regional stops that would be within a mile and a half driving distance from their parent's home," Reinhart said.
This decision leaves some West Ada parents worried about their child's safety when school starts.
"They're putting children in Jeopardy,' Hillary Ravenscroft, a parent with a child of "school of choice."
Last year, Ravencrost's daughter's bus stop was just outside of their neighborhood, a two-minute walk from their house.
Hillary said that was ideal because she and her husband, Jeremy Reinhart, both worked before their daughter's bus came. The stop being so close gave them peace of mind.
With the changes, their daughter's new stop is a 25-minute walk away from their house.
"Keep in mind that parents [and] families, work, have to provide for themselves their kids, and this is not okay," Hillary said. "We can't stop working to get our kids to school. We can't take mornings off to get kids to school. People can't get off work early to get kids up from the bus stop."
According to Hillary, their daughter will have to walk down multiple streets, including Ustick, a busy road.
"Ustick is a tricky situation with all its sidewalks and partial sidewalks," she said.
She's worried if her daughter takes a wrong turn or gets lost, she won't be able to help her.
"She doesn't have a phone," Hillary said.
The district reviewed the effects of route changes before making the decision.
"Schools of choice may have to drive their students to that stop," Hillary said. "We took into account only parent responsibility in getting the student to that stop. So, we don't really expect a five-year-old to navigate a lot of traffic... it is our hope and it's our message that we would ask that parents either share or help get that student to that stop."
The Ravenscrofts are nervous for the first day of school, which is just five days away.
"It's been tough for all of us," Jeremy told KTVB.
"She's going to be scared. And she's going to pretend she's okay," Hillary said.
Jeremy described her daughter as a "tough cookie." But due to the safety concerns the Ravenscroft's want the school district to reconsider and change the routes back to how they were.
Reinhart said they do not have the bus drivers to add routes at this time.
"We're panicking, trying to figure out what we can do for the best protection," Hillary said.