Families begin signing up for GOAL Line, new Detroit school bus route
DETROIT (WJBK) - Did you know that 30,000 Detroit kids went to schools in the suburbs last year? City officials are hoping a pilot program in northwest Detroit, designed to give parents and students more choice, will make a difference in lowering those figures.
The GOAL Line is a first of its kind for the city, and this weekend many got their first look at the program. It's a bus line that takes K-8 students from the school closest to their home, to either the participating school of their choice or the after-school program at the Northwest Activities Center.
Need an afterschool program? Check. Help with homework? Check. Maybe swimming lessons? Check. A chance to choose one of ten Detroit schools? Check. The GOAL Line bus route promises all of those things.
"It's pretty exciting to see the reaction. We've had about 500 young people come through here and check out the GOAL. I think families are excited," says Mayor Mike Duggan.
On Sunday, Detroit parents and students got the low-down on the pilot transportation project with an enrollment fair held at the Northwest Activities Center, which is where the kids can be dropped off after school.
In the video player above, you can see a map of how the bus loop works. Parents can choose to send their kids to any of these 10 schools on the map if they live in the corridor.
In the morning, the children are picked up from one of the school locations or the activities center, and then dropped off at the school they've chosen. After school they can either go back to their pickup spot, or to the Northwest Activities Center. Then, if Mom or Dad can't get them before after school programs end, the bus will take kids back to the pick up spot.
Parents even get notifications when their kids check into the bus with their ID card.
It's a program moving Detroit along the road to better education.
Two more GOAL Line registration events will be held July 22 and August 26. You can get more information at www.goaldetroit.org.