When CJ and Caley Rouse moved from Racine to the Elvehjem neighborhood on Madison’s east side in 2021, they knew they’d found a special community.
The day after CJ Rouse attended his first Elvehjem Neighborhood Association meeting, he was asked to join the board. “It’s almost surprising how welcoming this community is,” says Caley Rouse. “It feels like we were meant to be in Elvehjem.”
The only problem? School bus service wasn’t available for their young children because they didn’t live far enough away from Elvehjem Elementary School. The Madison Metropolitan School District only buses elementary schoolers who live 1.5 miles or farther from their school or who live in an area deemed “unusually hazardous,” like near a highway…