Marana Unified bus stops cut in the Altar Valley: getting to Marana High without them

What changed for 2026-27

This school year Marana Unified dropped the bus stops that served Altar Valley students at Marana High School. The principal's April 2026 letter to families listed 23 of them, including stops along Sandario Road, Marstellar Road, Ajo Highway and Sierrita Mountain Road, and the one at the Three Points Chevron (KOLD, August 4, 2026 (opens in a new tab)). The district told KGUN 9 (opens in a new tab) the change affects about 40 students, and cited "ongoing financial challenges," rising enrollment and a transportation audit.

Why Marana at all? The Altar Valley School District has no high school, so its teenagers choose Marana High, Flowing Wells High or Cholla High. Marana says it has no formal agreement with Altar Valley to provide their transportation.

Marana transportation for Altar Valley families: who still rides

Sources: KOLD (opens in a new tab), KGUN 9 (opens in a new tab) and the Marana High transportation page (opens in a new tab), checked October 15, 2026.

If there's no bus

Ask first. The district gave families three options: drive your student to Marana High, get them to one of the two remaining stops, or consider Flowing Wells High School, which planned to keep bus service in the area. If you're weighing Flowing Wells or Cholla, ask where the nearest stop is to your house, and how full that bus is, before you change schools for a bus.

Then transit. The district's three options didn't include one, and none of the reporting on the cut mentions one.

Then a carpool, to the stop. The remaining stops are busy. On the first day, 45 students were already on the bus before the Snyder Hill riders got on (KOLD). The Snyder Hill stop sits on a 50 mph road, and parents say there's no guardrail or shelter.

Finding families

Start at your stop. About 40 students lost their stop, and every one of them now goes to one of two corners. The families at San Joaquin and Ursa, or at Sandario and Snyder Hill, are making the same drive you are at the same hour. Ask the parent in the next car.

Carpool to the stop, not to school

• One car, four kids. Rotate mornings: one family drives the neighborhood's kids to the stop each day. With four families, each drives once or twice a week instead of every morning. In Carpool-Q, make the stop the carpool's destination and rotate the mornings; every family sees whose car it is.
• The car is the shelter. With no shelter at the stop, a carpool means the kids wait in a warm or cool car until the bus pulls up, not on the shoulder.
• Reverse it in the afternoon. The bus drops at the same stop. The same rotation, or a second one, brings them home.
• Ask the juniors and seniors. A teen with a license may be the best driver in the group. Check Arizona's limit (below) first; after six months, the stop run is a good job for a teen driver.

Plan the rotation on a free printable carpool schedule (no account needed).