The District of Columbia would offer free shuttle service for students who are attending neighborhoods with high crime rates, as per new legislation introduced Tuesday by at-large D.C. Councilman David Grosso.
Students are planned to be taken from Metro stations and safely transported to their schools under the Safe Passage Act.
Speaking about the bill, Grosso, who is the head of the D.C. Council’s education committee, pointed out the gun violence affecting children commuting to and from school every day.
“Right now [students] are afraid to go to school and that’s just not acceptable… We see our attendance rates are down, we see anxiety rates are up. We need to do more as a city,” Grosso told NBC, adding that adults cannot keep turning a blind eye to it.
It is noted that the proposal followed the murder of two students, 16-year-old Tyshon Perry at KIPP DC College Preparatory and 15-year-old Jaylyn Wheeler at Ballou High School, last year in May. Both incidents occurred shortly after the students left school.
According to Grosso, the program would cost the city around $12 billion dollars. However, it remains unclear which schools will be provided shuttles at this time.
Currently, D.C. is offering transportation services to approximately 3,000 students due to their special needs. Nearly 100,000 students in public schools travel on foot, by car or via public transportation.