Parents that agreed to terms required for their students to continue attending Nile Garden School after their South Manteca neighborhood was shifted into the Woodward School attendance area now don’t like them.

Those terms — spelled out repeatedly in written correspondence mailed to affected families and on the district website —  “note that transportation will be the parent’s responsibility once the application is approved” to continue attending Nile Garden which starting in August is no longer their child’s home school.

They are now having buyer’s remorse

They are petitioning the Manteca Unified school board to change the rules in place for all parents districtwide that opt to have their child attend schools other than then ones designated by the district as their child’s home school.

The petition involves 211 students from the Evans Estates neighborhood on the east side of South Main Street.

Due to heavy growth south of the 120 Bypass most which is west of South Main Street, the school board on Nov. 15, 2022 adopted attendance boundary shifts.

The district previously bused the students in question to Nile Garden School because they were outside of the district’s 1.25-mile radius that decides whether an elementary student can walk or ride a bus to and from school.

All of the 211 students whose families opted to have them continue to go to Nile Garden School are within the 1.25-mile walking distance of Woodward School.

But because the district only provides a busing option to home schools — as opposed to a school outside of a child’s assigned home  school attendance boundaries if the 1.25-mile distance threshold is exceeded — the 211 students will no longer be bused when school starts on Aug. 3.

Continuing to have their children attend Nile Garden School as a requested choice as it is no longer their home school with the clear understanding the district would not be providing  transportation is what  parents and guardians agreed to.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Manteca Unified School District underscored that reality: “As part of the boundary adjustment process, affected families had the opportunity to apply to have their children remain at Nile Garden.

“Prior to Board action on the boundary adjustment, parents were informed through various phases of detailed and transparent communication efforts (email, letters, website, online forum, and in-person workshop) that if they were approved to have their children stay at Nile Garden, the parents/guardians would be responsible for transportation.”

That is re-enforced in language parents received in a letter from the district  sent by mail on Dec. 9, 2022 regarding the boundary adjustments for Nile Garden School.

The district’s policy not to bus students that request and are allowed to attend a school if there is room available whose attendance boundaries they do not reside in, is based on a number of factors.

*Busing is paid for out of a per student funding formula the state sets each year. As such, increasing busing if the district could, would take funds from other expenses including classroom instruction and support services such as custodiams, libraries, maintenance, food services, counseling, and so forth.

*The state mandate to start high schools at a later time forced the district to essentially almost double all bus routes to do separate and high school runs every day as opposed to combining the two. As a result, buses now run all day.

*There is a shortage of bus drivers not just in Manteca Unified but nationwide.

*Manteca Unfired lacks enough buses, that now cost in  excess of $180,000, to provide busing beyond what they now do.
The 25,000-student district does provide busing for homeless and special education students regardless of where they reside as required by state law.

Nile Garden is a rural school but close to 90 percent of those who attend it reside within urbanized areas of the city.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com