Fall River Public Schools has prided itself for its “walkable” district in which most students in all grade levels benefit from living within walking distance to their school. But the latest transportation policy may be taking a sharp turn. 

At a March 10 School Committee meeting, Superintendent Dr. Tracy Curley revealed that the district has been notified by state officials that Fall River must adopt a state-mandated standard method — based on actual walking or driving distance — for calculating distance from a students’ home to to their school. 

Previously, the school system measured distance “as the crow flies,” Curley said.

Kindergarteners to fifth-graders qualified to take the school bus if they lived outside of a 1-mile radius from their neighborhood school, or the school they are assigned. Grades 6 to 8 were eligible to be bused if they lived outside a 1.5-mile radius.

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