Bethel revises plan to cut bus routes near schools
After a deluge of complaints from concerned parents, Bethel schools chief Tom Seigel has revised a cost-cutting measure to end busing for kids who live within one to two miles from school.
“Because of the concerns of parents, we have modified the policy,” Seigel said Wednesday. “The safety of kids has got to come first.”
Seigel said bus riders who were recently informed by the district that they could no longer receive district transportation can continue riding the bus if their parents voice reasonable concerns about their safety.
To inform families of the revision, the district is calling parents who previously contacted the district with concerns. Parents also can call the district transportation office at 253-683-5900.
The change means youngsters such as 12-year-old Jade Williams likely won’t have to walk in the rain or freezing cold to get to school, a trek of 1.8 miles when her parents looked it up on MapQuest.
“Sweet!” Jade said when a reporter told her of the possible switch.
The sixth-grader and her parents had worried about the prospect of her walking such a long distance by herself to school. “It makes me, like, kind of scared. Anything can happen in two miles. I can be hurt; no one will know,” Jade said.
District officials are trying to trim bus routes to help close a $5.7 million gap between revenues and expenses in the upcoming school year budget.
They hoped to save $100,000 by more closely following the state funding standard, which subsidizes transportation for elementary students living more than one mile from school and for junior and high school students living more than two miles from school.
However, the state measures that distance “as the crow flies” – a straight line from school to the child’s house – regardless of whether roads and sidewalks lengthen the actual travel distance.
The formula works against districts with large geographic areas – such as Bethel’s 220-square-mile territory – that are rural or suburban with a poor road network, numerous dead-end roads, and few sidewalks, shoulders and streetlights, Seigel said. Because of the unsafe walking conditions, the district transports thousands of students who live within the state’s nonreimbursible distances – 3,608 elementary students in 2006-07 alone.
As a result, the state pays only about 44 percent of the district’s annual $10.5 million transportation budget, meaning the remainder must come from local dollars that could otherwise be spent on instruction or other programs, Seigel said.
Since the number of streets with sidewalks or lights has grown slightly in recent years, district transportation staff identified bus routes where they felt children could safely walk to school. “Some parents still disagree,” Seigel said. “If you don’t believe children are still safe, we’ll transport them as we did last year.”
Adding back bus routes will likely mean the district will have to look elsewhere to save costs, Seigel added.
Since the district sent a letter in late June informing affected families of the transportation change, dozens of parents have called the district or appeared at board meetings to express concern.
Jade’s mother, Heather LaGasa, said she would appreciate it if the renewed transportation applies to her daughter and other children in the English Gardens housing development.
She and her husband, Brent, can’t drive Jade to school because their morning commute begins well before Pioneer Valley starts.
“If they implement this again, it shows they really care for our children’s safety,” LaGasa said.
Starlett Gamble complained earlier to the district when she learned her 7-year-old daughter, Taylor, would have to walk 1.2 miles to Pioneer Valley. “My child is too small,” the mother said. “We have pedophiles in my neighborhood.”
On Wednesday, transportation staff and Seigel called Gamble to tell her the district wasn’t reinstating her daughter’s old bus stop, but would add a stop for all the housing development students. The change means her daughter must walk several more blocks to catch the bus.
“I’m not completely satisfied,” Gamble said, but added, “It’s better than her walking all the way to school.”
Debby Abe: 253-597-8694
