9/6/2012 10:00:00 AMShuttles to shorten students’ walk to high school

To shorten a student’s walk to high school, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District has launched a shuttle service that is expected to reduce absences and tardiness this academic year.

“Shuttle stops within 1½ miles from each student’s high school considerably reduce the distance a high school student has to walk to school,” said Patrick Zohn, chief operating officer for the District. “I don’t know how many adults, if they lived 2½ miles from their job on a January day when it’s five degrees outside, are going to walk on ice-covered sidewalks to get to work.”

Ohio law does not require school districts to provide transportation for high school students. When CEO Eric S. Gordon was hired last summer to lead the District, he vowed to improve transportation. The plan that Gordon unveiled at a school board meeting before the end of the last academic year achieves that objective.

For more information about the District’s transportation plan, call 216.634.7021; RTA routes and schedules, call 216.566.5100.