SPIRIT LAKE, Idaho — Winter has arrived in Spirit Lake, and parents face more worries than icy roads after the Lakeland School District cut bus routes following a failed levy.
Maren Maier, a single mother with three children in the district, learned weeks before school started that her kids lost their bus service.
“When the weather was nice, the boys rode their bikes to school and back, and it was no big deal. But we were all really nervous about what was going to happen when the snow started falling,” Maier said.
Her former bus stop is roughly two miles from the school.
“It seems unrealistic to expect kids to walk two miles each way every day to school, especially in winter when sidewalks aren’t always plowed or don’t exist,” Maier said.
The change left working parents scrambling.
“Panic mode set in. I’m a single mom and I work full time,” Maier said.
Maier has two sons at the middle school and a daughter at the high school. She now relies either on her daughter or other parents in the neighborhood to get her sons to school.
Savanna Bradetich, another Spirit Lake parent, was concerned about children walking to school alone. So she turned her van into a school bus, driving about 10 kids daily.
But Bradetich is concerned for the many kids she still sees making the commute on foot along busy roads.
“The little bit of Highway 41 you saw this morning, even though the speed limit is 25 mph, people still speed. It’s dangerous for kids to be walking in these conditions, and it’s not even as bad as it’s going to get,” Bradetich said.
Bradetich said nearly 20 parents she doesn’t know have reached out for help.
“It’s frustrating because I’m only one person. I can’t drive everybody’s kids. I would love to if I could, but I can’t,” she said.
While both Maier and Bradetich have found temporary solutions, they say these don’t replace the simplicity of a bus service.
“It’s frustrating, but it shows the importance of funding for transportation,” Maier said.
The Lakeland School District declined to comment.
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