Carrisa Plains Elementary parents are concerned about their students’ route to school once they hit the sixth grade.
With the closest middle school about 50 miles away from the rural community in Santa Margarita, middle schoolers spend long hours on a bus each day, keeping them from home about 55 hours a week between class and travel.
“To think that any adults or administration would allow kids to be on a bus [and in class] for 55 hours as a mom is crazy to me,” one parent told the Atascadero Unified School District board on May 6.
In fact, five parents aired these concerns to the school board and asked it to hire an additional teacher to support students at Carrisa Plains until high school. While district Superintendent Tom Butler said the board appreciated the parents’ comments, he also said that wasn’t going to happen—at least this school year.
Currently, Carrisa Plains teaches grades K-5. Students sixth grade and older are bussed to Atascadero Middle and High schools, roughly 50 miles away.
Parents spoke at the May 6 meeting as six students dressed in blue stood behind them holding signs that read, “Bussing Polecats stinks,” featuring a perturbed skunk with its arms crossed.
Parent Adriane Twisselman told the board that they weren’t asking for special treatment but just wanted to be heard. She also criticized the board’s history of lacking transparency and community input.
Carrisa Plains started as a K-8 school in the 1950s, then transitioned to a K-5 model in 2012 when the board of education citizens advisory committee determined it to be the most beneficial for Atascadero district students, Superintendent Butler explained at the meeting. After that decision, Atascadero Middle School was built in 2017 to accommodate students.
Twisselman said the board didn’t consider public input then and still isn’t now, making its promises “hollow.”
Patty Hermosillo said the long bus rides take a toll on middle schoolers’ mental health because they’re so far away from home, and it places a “burden” on families financially if students don’t take the bus.
“It’s exhausting and expensive on the gas budget,” Hermosillo said.
Superintendent Butler said that while he valued their perspective, “we have seen generally that students come to the middle grades … and do very well.”
Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Kendyl Darnell told parents that Carrisa Plains doesn’t have the attendance numbers to justify hiring a new teacher and would be something the district would look at if the community grows by about 20 more attending students.
It’s still something for the board to look out for but should be evaluated on a “broader basis” to every student they serve, Darnell said.
“We also have other rural areas, and some of them also have students traveling a significant distance,” she said.
As an informational item on the agenda, the board took no action but shared its sentiments to the concerned parents.
“We know what high-quality people you are, and we do hear you. I don’t know if we can resolve everything you want but you do a great job representing yourself,” board member Jodi Arnold said.
Board clerk Denise McGrew-Kane said that the board wasn’t “heartless,” and the issue wasn’t about the money—the board just needed time to figure out the complexities of the matter.
The board didn’t specify whether the topic would be placed on an upcoming agenda. Δ
This article appears in May 15-25, 2025.
