Sequim: Parents, passengers cope with school-bus changes

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, October 4, 2006

SEQUIM — Life inside the school bus just got a lot more like life outside.

With the Sequim district’s new, unified schedule, elementary-school, middle school and high school students ride together — and some spend a total of two hours a day on the bus.

The average ride-time total is 102 minutes for Helen Haller Elementary, middle and high school students, according to a report Superintendent Garn Christensen gave the Sequim School Board this week.

Greywolf Elementary students ride an average of 96 minutes a day.

Last year’s daily ride time averaged 97 minutes for middle and high school students and 96 minutes for grade-schoolers.

Now, however, some students’ commute time exceeds two hours.

On the aptly named Turtle bus, passengers ride for a total of 126 minutes a day.

Such is life in a rural community. Sequim school buses go up roads like Palo Alto and Blue Mountain, and that takes a while, Christensen said.