LMSD Walks Back Walk Zone Expansion Plans For 2024-25 School Year

LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP, PA — High school students in the Lower Merion School District will have the same walk zone next year as they do this year, as the district has pushed back its plan to expand the walk zone.

Superintendent Steven Yanni said the district is retaining the 1-mile walk zone for the 2024-25 school year rather than expanding it to a 1.5-mile walk zone.

Yanni said the district believe sufficient safe walking routes to school exist and a 1.5-mile walk zone could be safely implemented, but that the district wanted to respond to community concerns.

"While this change creates the needed efficiencies within our complex transportation system, many families impacted expressed concerns about and opposition to the change," Yanni said.

The district last year proposed the walk zone expansion to accommodate for shifting bus schedules due to new school start times and universal kindergarten.

"We have shared time and again the reality of the bus driver shortage impacting Lower Merion and virtually all other districts," Yanni said. "While we continue to recruit drivers and have implemented paid training and sign-on bonuses, retaining a substantial workforce is now more challenging than ever. The decision to retain the one-mile walk zone requires compromises elsewhere in the system. For example, some middle school buses will need to run earlier than planned and some high school buses will run later."

Yanni said more information on the timing of buses will be made later this year.

Read Yanni's full letter to the community regarding the walk zone online here.