Students at West Shamokin High School will have an opportunity to take free rides to Kittanning for free swimming and gym time at the Richard G. Snyder YMCA.
About 50 students surveyed at the school in Cowanshannock told Armstrong School District administrators they would be interested in taking a 16-mile, after-school bus ride for the free two-hour program, said Superintendent Chris DeVivo.
“We want to make this program available for students at West Shamokin because we currently have students from Armstrong that take advantage of it,” DeVivo said. “For the last couple of months, we've looked at a number of scenarios without becoming a financial burden.”
The board plans to vote Monday on using a 30-passenger bus that would be available at no cost to students who want to travel from the school to the YMCA. The bus will cost the district about $24 per day, which works out to about $3,600 per year, DeVivo said.
If approved, the route would offer kids a one-way trip to the YMCA. Students and parents would be responsible for arranging a ride home, DeVivo said.
Since it opened in 2012, the YMCA has offered Armstrong School District students free admission to work out, swim or play in its gymnasium from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. when school is in session, said school board member Stanley Berdell, who also is president of the YMCA's board of directors.
About 50 students per day take part in the program.
The district takes students from Armstrong Junior-Senior High School in Manor Township to the YMCA each day, but that bus does not cost the district any additional money since it already is part of a fixed route to take kids home in eastern Kittanning, DeVivo said.
“Even though we had about 50 interested, we don't believe we'll see all of those kids wanting to go on any given day,” DeVivo said. “This bus should be sufficient.”
Brad Pedersen is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-543-1303, ext. 1337, or bpedersen@tribweb.com.
