The school district plans to continue using the traditional bus loading and unloading site off 1st Ave. until the high school stadium is ready for school bus traffic.
By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Children attending Joyce Bullock Elementary School could very well start loading and offloading from school buses at the high school track at some point during the school year.
The school district isn’t rushing to make the change. The district can continue to use the current bus loading site at the JBES entrance on 1st Ave until it is ready to make the change.
The district’s decision to relocate the JBES bus loading site to the track was brought about by ongoing efforts to develop the former high school campus into a retail shopping center.
BluRock Real Estate Development, Inc. has indicated to the City of Williston and the school district that it needs 1st Ave. for the shopping center. The street belongs to the school district.
The school district is buried under work preparing for the reopening of schools on Aug. 10. The district is offering parents three options – educating students in brick and mortar classrooms, educating them at home on the internet or a combination of the two known as blended learning. The idea is to give parents options if they are worried about COVID-19.
The three-tier learning system is something that has never been tried before and the district is inventing new ways of running the school district and educating students on the fly.
The loading and unloading of students at JBES is important and is part of the overall picture, but preparation for the complex job of reopening the entire school system this year is consuming much of the district’s attention.
District officials didn’t sent out bid requests for changes to the high school track until Tuesday, which means the bids won’t be returned for a period of time. The bids will have to be opened, a company selected, and the project engineered before the track can be used by school buses.
School Superintendent Jeff Edison said Friday it is “highly unlikely” school buses will begin using the high school track as the loading and unloading site when school opens on Aug. 10.
Edison said entrance and exit driveways must be constructed off SW 5th Terrace to allow school buses to enter the football stadium.
For now, 1st Ave. will remain the loading and unloading site for JBES buses. Most of the high school campus has been demolished. Edison sees no problem continuing to use 1st Ave. for now.
“We have to secure our kids first. Right now we own the street. We can close it off, so we could block it off and not let any other traffic through,” Edison said.
He said BluRock has agreed to construct a covered sidewalk from the high school track to the front entrance of JBES as part of a deal that will turn ownership of 1st Ave. over to the city.
Edison mentioned at Tuesday’s school board meeting that the high school track may be resurfaced with 1 ½ inches of new asphalt to strengthen the track for use by school buses, but he said the resurfacing hasn’t been engineered. The district won’t resurface the track unless it is needed.
“It’s another thing we’re getting engineering on. If it’s not a cost we have to incur we’re not going to do it, but if it is a cost we have to; or if it’s a cost we can kick the can down the road; if we can wait and spend the money a year from now, that’s money we don’t have to spend right now,” he said.
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School Board of Levy County Regular Meeting July 14, 2020; Posted July 17, 2020
