Virginia school leaders promise to fix school bus issues

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Three weeks into the school year and school bus problems are continuing for one Virginia community.

FOX 5’s Melanie Alnwick reports that Alexandria students are facing challenges simply getting to school. She visited Mount Vernon Avenue and Glebe Road, a difficult intersection for drivers and adults, and neighbors say elementary school children as young as five and six are trying to navigate it on their own.

That’s the situation some residents say students at Mount Vernon Community School are dealing with. Alexandria City Public Schools designates "walk zones" within a mile for K–8 students and a mile and a half for high school students, areas where bus service is not provided.

Before this school year, the school board re‑drew the boundary lines for those walk zones, and some neighborhoods that previously had bus service lost it.

Families around Mount Vernon Community School are asking the board to consider more than just distance and point to the challenges younger children face getting to school safely.

The board says it is dealing with budget constraints and a bus driver shortage and will make adjustments to the process used to evaluate walk routes. Officials say they hope to have a solution by the end of the month.