Creola HS students face 40-minute bus ride

CREOLA, Ala. (WALA) - The new school year will start in Mobile County as well as the newly formed Satsuma and Chickasaw school districts, in less than two weeks, on August 20.

Hundreds of students in Northern Mobile County are facing major changes because of rezoning brought on by the separation of Satsuma and Chickasaw from the county’s school system.

RELATED: Satsuma, Chickasaw split from Mobile County School System

Six-year-old Branden Stacey will return to Lee Elementary in Satsuma this year, even though he lives in Creola.

His father decided to pay the $650 annual tuition Satsuma imposes on out-of-system students.

"I thought it was kind of silly for us to have to pay to go to public school when we're just a city away," Matt Stacey said.

To Stacey, at least, paying the fee is better than the alternative.

The alternative is to attend the only elementary school in Creola, which will house Kindergarten through 8th grade, Northern Mobile County.

"I really wasn't comfortable with kindergarten going to school with 8th grade. Eighth grade, that's when you're going through all your changes and stuff, so it's a little different," Stacey said.

Stacey isn’t the only one uncomfortable, but the reasons differ for some.

Hundreds of students who used to attend Satsuma High will now be bused all the way to Citronelle.

"They'll be an hour going and an hour coming back. They'll be the first ones to get on the bus and the last ones to get off the bus. And that's just too much for small kids, you know," City Council Member Ralph Walker said.

The Mobile County Public School System has given the community one other option. Children can attend any school in the county as long as the parents provide the transportation.

Regardless, Walker says the rezoning has put a hardship on many families in the community, where parents now face a choice: send kids on long bus rides or pay tuition fees for a public education.

“[None] of them want to send their kids to Citronelle from Creola and Axis," Walker said.