Wednesday, September 24, 2003

School board must place children's safety at top

I have been watching the controversy over the school busing with great interest because I have a 5-year-old grandson that goes to school and he has lost his ride.

It seems to me that the school board has lost its way. First off the board should place safety of the children at the top of its agenda. These children are the future of this country. We could possibly have the next F.D.R., Eisenhower or Truman in our midst. Whether you agree or not, these were great men.

Secondly, what if a child was killed while waiting for a bus or mayhap killed by a school bus? There are a lot of pickup places where the bus has to turn around in cramped areas. My grandson's is one of them. An aide is supposed to jump off the bus and guide the driver. The big buses are quite long and that would be difficult to watch a bunch of small children, watch both sides of the bus and direct the driver.

Just think of the possible lawsuits if a child or children were killed or injured in an accident. The plan as it exists places a terrible burden on the drivers. They surely don't need any more responsibility. They have enough as it is now. Money saved on minimum bus service would look small indeed if that terrible scenario happened.

It even gets worse. On Oct. 26 daylight saving time ends and the children will be in the dark while waiting on street corners. It is not only the children being inconvenienced; it's also the parents, as their schedules all have to be changed. This whole thing is generating a lot of ill will. The natives are definitely restless.

I would urge the board to cut the budget somewhere else. With the huge budget they have there must be other places to cut. How about deadwood in the administration department; there must be quite a lot. Every huge organization has lots of deadwood. It accumulates like dust through the years and takes people with guts to root it out.

I have a suggestion. Take all of the board members that voted to curtail bus service and throw them off the board and then listen closely to those that oppose it. These will be the intelligent ones. It is not right to save money on the safety of children. When it comes down to it children are the only valuables we really have.

I never rode a school bus myself. I walked to public school and high school, and to those that say children should walk to school, I say we have a changed world. We now have predators and thousands more cars on the streets. Small children are not capable of assessing the risks that modern society has brought us.

In conclusion I ask whatever money is saved, is it worth the life of one child?

I think not.

Curtiss F. Ross

Peachtree City