St. Louis Public Schools to pay parents to drive kids to school

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - The Saint Louis Public School District (SLPS) will provide gas subsidies for families impacted by transportation struggles who take their students to and from school.

The district is contacting select families to provide gas cards for the next two weeks.

“It hurts us tremendously because a lot of us are going to have to take off work,” says parent Sharita Hall.

The families who will receive the gas cards have had “chronic bus absenteeism throughout the year,” according to the school district.

“We apologize and we’re sorry for the inconvenience of something as simple as commuting their children,” says St. Louis Public Schools Chief Operations Officer Square Watson.

“I’ve always had to either walk her to school or take the Metro bus or drive her,” says parent Valerie Smith.

Smith says her daughter’s bus was a no-show on Wednesday and has not picked her up for weeks.

“She’s not been once on that bus,” says Smith. “I think if you pay the parents to take them they’re more likely to get the kids to school.”

From May 13 - May 22, the district will implement a compensatory program through the Chek app for all district families who take their children to and from school. Parents can download the app on their smartphones and then receive $75 per week to spend on an alternative ride. According to SLPS, up to 1,500 students will be impacted.

“It’s not safe in my heart for my kids to just be on public transportation like that when we have school buses for those reasons,” Hall says.

“This allows them the opportunity to make sure at the end of the day that the students, their families, their scholars attend school so they can get a quality education,” Watson says.

For a family to be eligible, the student must attend school at least four days a week and arrive on time. There is a limit of one fuel subsidy per family, regardless of multiple students or schools.

The school district’s contract with Missouri Central School Bus will end at the end of June.

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