School City of Hammond will be restoring some bus service. The school board Tuesday approved a plan to add transportation to parts of Lincoln, Irving, O'Bannon, Burns-Hicks and Hess elementary schools' zones.
Interim Superintendent Dr. Brent Wilson said the goal is to target specific hazard areas. "This is a start, and that's what I want to make sure the community knows — that limited funding allows us to start this. As more funds are available, we can identify more areas," Wilson explained.
But former school board member Cindy Murphy said the plan divides the city into "haves" and "have-nots." "Ooh, are we missing half the schools? That would be Harding, Edison, Jefferson, Franklin. Then, there was criteria put down there. I totally disagree about Hess not having high density," Murphy told board members.
She said the plan still leaves several areas where kids have to cross busy streets to get to school.
A memorandum from Transportation Director Edward Peterson says a 1.5-mile "walk radius" was established in the 1980s, but bus service was gradually increased to compensate for school closures. Facing financial challenges, School City of Hammond cut service within the walk radius this school year, impacting about 400 general education students.
Meanwhile, the uncertainty caused about a third of bus drivers and some bus monitors to leave the district. That means new runs have to be added to existing routes or combined with special education routes. It also requires a shuttle to be set up between Irving and Lincoln elementary schools, resulting in students being dropped off a half-hour before the start of school or being picked up a half-hour after classes end.
Resident Wanda Puckett complained that the new bus service didn't begin when students returned from winter break Monday, even though drivers were apparently ready to go. "Monday morning, the kids got up, went to the bus line, standing out there waiting on the bus. They were told when school started back, they were going to have their bus. No bus," Puckett said.
But Wilson said the school board had to vote on the plan first, after already getting approval from the state's Distressed Unit Appeal Board, which oversees the district's corrective action plan. "Starting tomorrow, I'm going to get with Mr. Peterson, and we're going to get things rolling as soon as possible, so we can start picking up those kids," Wilson added.
He said he'd eventually like School City of Hammond to cut the walk radius to a mile, as funding becomes available.
The approval came on the same night that one of the Hammond School Board's most vocal members, Carlotta Blake-King, was unanimously elected board president.
"I accept [this nomination] with all of my heart," said Blake-King, amid cheers from the audience.
She's been a frequent critic of the way the district went about cutting spending in response to a series of financial challenges — at one point referring to top administrators as carpetbaggers who "raped" the district and another time calling their failure to take a pay cut "criminal."
"2025 will be a year of restoration and elevation — restoration and elevation," Blake-King said at the end of Tuesday's meeting. "I want everybody to go home and repeat it, say it to our students, say it to our administration. This is our theme for the year."
The Hammond School Board also welcomed two new members Tuesday. Mellissa Guerra and Evangeline Stanford took their oaths of office after their election victories in November.
Michaela Spangenberg with the Gary Education Coalition said she was "overjoyed" by the changes. "If this kind of change had not taken place, what the cost would be — who knows? We'll see," Spangenberg said. "But it's important for people to remember that we do live in a system that involves voting and that voting's important and that voting works."
Hammond Teachers Federation President Louis Gikas vowed to work in collaboration and cooperation with the school board. "I'm incredibly optimistic that we're at a point where this could happen and change can happen in a positive way, where it reverses some of the negativity that has been brought forth the last, certainly, six years," Gikas told board members.
There are still more leadership changes to come. A search is currently underway for a new superintendent. Blake-King said 18 applications were submitted by last month's deadline. Board members will start reviewing them during a closed executive session on Saturday.
