Some parents in southwest South Dakota are walking their children more than 2 ½ miles to school in Box Elder this week after a cutback in bus service.The Douglas School District is enforcing a rule approved two years ago that buses will pick up students only within a 2 1/2-mile radius. Superintendent Loren Scheer says that with recent cuts in state education funding and federal cuts looming, the district can no longer continue to bus students who live farther away.
As many as 150 students are affected. Many parents are unhappy, saying their children are now forced to walk through fields or along a two-lane highway that is heavy with traffic going to and from Ellsworth Air Force Base. They say safety should come before money concerns.