Aurora district transportation conflict

The journalism class here at Rangeview along with various other schools all around the state have annually headed over to CSU for a day to celebrate “J-Day” or Journalism Day which is set to be celebrated on September 26th of this month. 

This year, Rangeview received news that the district won’t be able to provide a way of transportation to the university for the day which only leaves the school with little options on how to attend. Alternatives such as renting a bus to possibly carpool have been considered, but nothing is set yet.

Reasons to why the district couldn’t provide the class with a way of transportation can be due to various reasons; these reasons can include due to not enough drivers, times when busses are needed are times when younger kids are being taken to and from school, and expenses.

This isn’t just a problem with this one field trip, it is something that often occurs a lot of the district. Rangeview’s freshman football team played against Far Northeast for their 4th game on Monday, September 16th and were required to leave school early to head over on a bus 4 hours before the game started since that would be the only way of transportation.

“Transportation buses that are needed for these type of field trips are required to be here early so that kids can be taken as soon as possible. Unfortunately because of that, bus drivers are required to take kids to school in general first before all else. That leaves us with little to no options” says Rangeview athletic director Shawn Palmer.

Carpooling seems to be the only direction the school is leaning towards.

“Overall, I’m pretty bummed about it because we got to go last year and we really benefited from it,” stated Rangeview Yearbook Advisor Anna Gebhardt. “We might not be able to go now since we don’t have a bus and none of my students can drive themselves down there; we’re just missing out on a great opportunity.”

J-Day is bringing 50 speakers, covering a wide range of media issues and tips, to the Lory Student Center on the campus of Colorado State University to not only improve journalism skills but to build social skills for the outside world as well.

“I think the distract may be undervaluing journalism because J-Day is a really good opportunity to learn new things concerning journalism and I think it’s really important that we learn those things,” said first year Raider Review Reporter Dylan Tressider.

With the trip less than two weeks away, the outcome on whether the trip will even be a thing is yet to be announced.