BROKEN ARROW, Okla- Broken Arrow Public Schools held a fourth forum Wednesday night to make parents aware of the transportation changes coming in August.
The school system says students who live within a mile and a half of the school will not get transportation.
Tabatha Mullins' daughter walks to school. She and other students who live within one mile from the school don't get bus service.
"What are they going to do when it's snowing outside or pouring down rain?" she said.
When school starts August 17, that distance widens to a mile and a half. This means more kids will have to walk and the district is blaming budget cuts. As for questions about safety, the district is asking parents to consider a "group walk."
"We've tried to identify dangerous areas and exempt those families from those really dangerous areas of kids actually walking to school," Director of Support Services Derek Blackburn said. "As your child is walking to school he goes to another house and then one of the kids walks out with them and a parent transports them and walks with them to the next house and then shares with another parent."
But some parents, like Mullins, say they're still not comfortable with the idea.
"I definitely think it's a long walk for somebody that's in elementary school," she said. "My child is not going to walk a mile by herself even if she has friends, I don't think I would want her walking with a group that far."
The school system says they sent out surveys earlier in the spring asking parents for their opinion. They say this recommendation had the most votes.
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