An issue that becomes more urgent as the winter months progress is student walkers, who have not other way  to attend school everyday. New England winters can be very extreme and massive snow storms and unpaved or icy roads and sidewalks are imminent. This situation can cause treacherous and lengthy walks home even if a student lives relatively close by to the school.

Adding bus routes so that students can be safer needs to happen.  Surveys have been passed out to students which provided the percentage of walkers and other details. Of those surveyed fifty-one percent are students that walk or get dropped off but still walk sometime in the day. They were also asked about how frequently they experience injury due to walking in less than favorable weather conditions. Forty-seven percent said they would sometimes experience injury, such as rolled ankle and bruises.

Naugatuck High School’s current policy follows the state guidelines saying that if students live farther than a two mile radius from the school grounds they will be assigned a bus route; while the students who live under the radius are considered walkers, but parents are free to drop them off in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon.

Last year the high school provided two select bus routes however it is not a set policy and was started a few snow storms in. The goal of the survey was to gather information regarding walkers in order to urge a change in district policy.  New bus routes should be added permanently for the months December through the end of March at the least. Relieving students from the hassles and dangers caused by New England weather and also parents who don’t have to pick up their kids on the icy roads.

This call for a change is not entirely unprecedented other schools in the state have a year around policy that has a smaller walking radius. The Fairfield and Cheshire school district’s standard bus policy states that people who live outside of a one and a half mile radius gets a bus route.  Therefore adding additional bus routes exclusively for the months of December and March may be more feasible that once considered and certainly more so than as the entire policy itself.