Denver Public Schools has increased shuttle service throughout the district to offer more choices to parents and students.
Recently, DPS turned heads with its innovative collaboration with charter schools and increased the number of disabled students served. Education Week reported earlier this month on the “atypical partnership” DPS has with its local charter schools that could be a model for the rest of the nation.
“I think a lot of districts are looking at Denver, not just districts, charter management organizations,” said Lauren Morando Rhim, executive director for the National Center on Special Education in Charter Schools, to EdWeek. “Denver has the potential to be very influential.”
Those special needs transportation services have evolved from a program that started five years ago to increase the number of choices to students throughout the district.
Nicole Portee, executive director of transportation for DPS, updated STN on the Success Express and five similar programs that essentially offer zone transportation serving school choice within those zones. These zones serve a number of traditional elementary, middle and high schools, as well as charter schools. Families who live within those zones are offered the choice of attending any school located in that zone.
Like a protractor would draw multiple, overlapping circles, shuttle stops were created where students can board at a school and get off at their school of choice that resides in another part of that zone. They then repeat the process on the way home. Or students can ride the Success Express, or one of the other programs, until the bus reaches their school of choice within the one zone.
“Why we haven’t named all of them Success Express is because of the geography and uniqueness of that system,” said Portee, adding that special needs transportation, the types of disabilities served and individual student IEPs complicate a traditional shuttle system. “Success Express was unique to that (original) area. Since then, we’ve taken different geographic areas where our district said we have four to 10 schools in an area surrounded by homes so all families in that area can exercise choice within that zone.”
She added that a representative from Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s office recently visited Denver Public schools to discuss Success Express and to obtain insights on how the system works and how DPS fosters participation by charter schools. Portee said Detroit is seeking alternatives, as city planners address the need to bus students out of destitute areas to high-performing schools across town.
