Friday, August 15, 2003
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Friday, August 15, 2003 |
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Parents discuss bus changes By J. FRANK
LYNCH
Vowing they "won't give up" until their complaints are heard, about 50 parents upset with changes in the county's school bus routes gathered at The Estates clubhouse Wednesday night to compare notes and coordinate their next move. The fight may be short-lived, as more reports of compromises and restored stops began to trickle in. Though no one representing the school system was present at the meeting, several who spoke reported having positive dealings with county office employees about the matter, even if it hadn't been cleared up to their liking. Melinda Berry-Dreisbach, school district spokesperson, said Thursday afternoon that nothing had changed as far as the administration's approach to dealing with the complaints, which were being handled on a case-by-case basis. At least a handful of families from The Estates said they were told by a school district employee that a bus would begin picking up the kids who lived in the streets and cul-de-sacs furthest from the entrance starting Monday. That presents a potentially awkward scenario, some parents argued: A bus driving through the neighborhood past kids who were walking to school, just to pick up children who lived a little further away. "We all pay the same taxes, we should get the same service," was the cry. "Their concern is correcting errors in the one-mile rule," explained Joe Mendola, an Estates resident and one of the meeting's organizers. He admitted finding out prior to the meeting that his house lies beyond the one-mile cutoff and will be served by the new bus stops on Monday. The Estates is adjacent to Braelinn Elementary on Robinson Road, and many homeowners say they moved to the area specifically to get their children into the highly-ranked school. But because the two main entrances to the subdivision on Robinson Road are within .4 mile of the school, bus service to the students there was dropped altogether. In June, the School Board amended the policy on the minimum distance a child should have to travel from home to school or bus stop from .3 mile to .5 mile.That distance of two-tenths, coupled with other measures like leasing buses instead of purchasing new ones, is allegedly saving the school district more than $1 million a year. To the parents present at the meeting, cost wasn't the issue: It was safety. And asking young children to use the cart path system to get to school daily isn't acceptable, parents say, because of the dangers from the electric-powered vehicles. "This is a a safety issue, pure and simple," said Peachtree City Councilman Steve Rapson, who attended the meeting and urged the parents to follow proper channels and stay focused on that issue. Though school district issues are out of the city's hands, he said, the city does fund the crossing guards and has jurisdiction over student safety. Mayor Steve Brown posed the issue a different way: "If you ask, 'Is the path system safe for elementary school children walking in the dark wee hours of the morning?' my answer would be that I would not allow my children to do it." Brown suggested the school district made some "large communication gaps" in getting out the word about the change. Chief among them was waiting untiil the week before school started to send out letters about the new policy, letters which went to the wrong addresses or never arrived at all. Another issue of concern to the parents and the city, Brown said, was overcrowding at bus stops. With several stops consolidated into one central pick-up spot, many kids are gathering at key intersections, and some buses particularly on the middle school pickup cycle are dangerously overcrowded, parents allege. Brown said the city occasionally will monitor bus stop activity at the request of a parent, but generally doesn't have the manpower to do so. He discouraged parents threatening lawsuits against the school district to reclaim bus service. "Give the Board of Education the opportunity to fix things in a timely fashion," Brown said. The regular monthly School Board meeting scheduled for Monday night may provide the first step toward reconciliation. Several residents present Wednesday said they had already called about getting on the agenda, and school system personnel are preparing for a large crowd of angry parents. "They're working on it," said Mendola. "Things need to be done in the proper channels." Monday's meeting is at 7 p.m. at School Board offices on Stonewall Avenue in Fayetteville.
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