Mesa Verde is "a busing school" and most of its students arrive on buses together with some transported in private vehicles, said Riverbank Superintendent of Schools Ken Geisick on hearing some parents have complained of the difficulty of getting their children to and from school.
Riverbank Mayor Virginia Madueno told fellow Riverbank City Council members last week she had been fielding parents' concerns about the distance to the school and the fact they do not all own cars. She wondered whether there was any way the city could collaborate with the School District to help them, perhaps by extending sidewalks.
Built two years ago at the corner of Mesa Drive and Eleanor Avenue, Mesa Verde lies firmly in the country a mile or more outside Riverbank city limits.
The only sidewalks are those installed around the north and west side of the campus as part of the site work.
Madueno questioned the wisdom of locating a school so far outside town and relying on well and septic tank systems for water and sewage.
Geisick recalled district trustees needed another elementary school and decided to develop that site because they had owned the former orchard property for many years and they would not incur heavy expenses in buying new land.
He also noted large residential developments such as 'Bruinville' were being planned at the time. They were expected to spread that direction within a few years and bring city services to the school. But all that halted when the economy collapsed and new construction virtually stopped.
Part of the problem may be the first students at Mesa Verde were transferred from the Rio Altura campus, (now taken over by the Riverbank Language Academy), that was an old school lying near the city center and allowing many children to walk to school. The parents have not yet adjusted to new circumstances.
School buses generally do not pick up students who live within a mile of their school and are expected to walk or use private transportation.
Riverbank Mayor Virginia Madueno told fellow Riverbank City Council members last week she had been fielding parents' concerns about the distance to the school and the fact they do not all own cars. She wondered whether there was any way the city could collaborate with the School District to help them, perhaps by extending sidewalks.
Built two years ago at the corner of Mesa Drive and Eleanor Avenue, Mesa Verde lies firmly in the country a mile or more outside Riverbank city limits.
The only sidewalks are those installed around the north and west side of the campus as part of the site work.
Madueno questioned the wisdom of locating a school so far outside town and relying on well and septic tank systems for water and sewage.
Geisick recalled district trustees needed another elementary school and decided to develop that site because they had owned the former orchard property for many years and they would not incur heavy expenses in buying new land.
He also noted large residential developments such as 'Bruinville' were being planned at the time. They were expected to spread that direction within a few years and bring city services to the school. But all that halted when the economy collapsed and new construction virtually stopped.
Part of the problem may be the first students at Mesa Verde were transferred from the Rio Altura campus, (now taken over by the Riverbank Language Academy), that was an old school lying near the city center and allowing many children to walk to school. The parents have not yet adjusted to new circumstances.
School buses generally do not pick up students who live within a mile of their school and are expected to walk or use private transportation.
