Community Education

Peninsula School District expands activity bus schedule so more kids can participate

Peninsula School District has doubled the number of days it offers after-school-hours bus service so more students can participate in sports and other activities, district officials announced on Sept. 4.

The district will now operate activity buses Monday through Thursday at all middle and high schools. After-school-hours buses formerly ran only on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“We heard feedback from students and families that doubling the days of activity buses would allow their students to participate in activities, particularly at the middle school level,” said Michael Farmer, chief of schools. “Students were typically picked up by parents on Mondays and Wednesdays, or some activities were not scheduled on those days. Going forward, those activities can be any day of the week, Monday through Thursday.” 

Courtesy Peninsula School District

Farmer said the district’s Educational Programs and Operations Levy, approved by voters in February, allowed the district to expand activity bus service for secondary students, “increasing their opportunities to stay after school for athletics, activities and academic support.”

Schedule issues

“Monday through Thursday are the days with the most after-school activities across our schools, with Fridays often being a later game or meet,” said Wendy Malich, athletic and activities director. “Four days of activity bus service will increase opportunities for families and students to participate in our after-school programs. Unfortunately, the burden of trying to pick up the students at 4:30 was placed solely on the families, so if transportation could not come from the family, many students could not participate. Our hope is that by having this resource more of our students will have the ability to join our programs.” 

The district scheduled Friday practices at middle schools for the first two weeks of the season to make sure students get the appropriate number of practices before their first contests, Malich said. “We are in complete control of the current middle school schedule because we only play our own schools. With the high schools, we don’t have that control because we are in a league, so competitions fall wherever the league puts us.”

That means the district relies on contracted charter service providers when there aren’t enough district buses to go around for games, meets, concerts and other events at the high school level. Internal and external communication issues in 2024 resulted in transportation gaps that, in one case, caused a high school wrestling team to forfeit a match because not enough players could make the meet. After-school-hours activity bus service is solely provided by Peninsula School District buses and drivers, said Ashley Murphy, chief of finance and operations.

The district on its website posted route maps for activity buses at all middle- and high schools. Service began on Sept. 8.