Do Kids Actually Walk to Landon Middle School? Let’s Look at the Facts

By Henry McClure

Topeka voters keep hearing the emotional argument: “We can’t allow Maverik because of the kids walking to Landon Middle School on Fairlawn.”

Sounds scary. Sounds like we’re protecting children.

But is it true? Let’s cut through the rhetoric with actual facts from USD 501.

The Official Policy

According to the USD 501 Transportation Handbook:

• Middle school students get a free bus only if they live 1.0 mile or more from the school.
• If you live closer than 1 mile — which covers almost the entire area around Landon and the old Ramada/Maverik site — you walk, you bike, or a parent drops you off.
• Walking is the default for most students in that zone.

Landon Middle School’s own handbook even has specific instructions for walkers arriving at school.

The Geography

The proposed Maverik site is only about 360 feet from Landon Middle School. That’s roughly one city block.

Any kid living near Fairlawn and 6th, or in the immediate neighborhood, is well under the 1-mile limit. The school district designed the attendance zone expecting many of these students to walk.

The Real Numbers

District-wide Safe Routes to School data shows:

• About 12% of students walk to school.
• The majority are driven by parents.
• Only about 16% ride the bus.

So yes — some kids do walk to Landon, especially those who live close. The district plans for it. They open the doors early for walkers. They expect students to walk up to a quarter-mile to a bus stop if they qualify for the bus.

The Bottom Line

Council members used the “protect the children walking to school” line to justify killing a private business that would have cleaned up a blighted vacant lot, created 20–50 jobs, and started paying taxes on land that’s given the city zero for years.

But the school district itself already treats walking on Fairlawn as normal and acceptable for middle schoolers.

They can’t have it both ways:

• Claim it’s too dangerous to add a convenience store next to an existing walking route…
• While their own policy sends kids out to walk that same route every day.

If the intersection is truly that dangerous for children, then USD 501 and the City should fix the crossing, add lights, crossing guards, or change the attendance boundaries — not kill a legitimate business on a vacant lot.

The emotional argument sounded good in the council chamber. The facts show it was overstated.

The vacant lot is still empty. The kids are still walking (or being dropped off). And Topeka is still out the jobs and tax revenue.

This is exactly why so many people are fed up with how “economic development” really works in this town.

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