At last night's Public Safety Committee Meeting we had a discussion about the school bus service that is provided to students in the West Montrose neighborhood who attend Marshall School. The origin of the conversation was from a discussion with the Board of Education last year when we were reviewing the budget and we were informed of the existence of this bus route because it was declared a "hazardous route". As a result of this designation, all 32 children in the neighborhood are provided bus service to school, which dictates the need for an added bus and bus driver, costing the school district between $25,000 and $50,000 each year.
Apparently, back in July 2001 the Board of Education was going to discontinue this bus route because the State determined that any bus routes for children who live less than 1.5 miles from school are considered "courtesy routes". To get around this, some residents at the time lobbied to have this route deemed a "hazardous route" instead, which would require the School District to provide a bus. That practice continues to this day.
The irony of the entire situation is that Marshall School services children in Kindergarten through 2nd grade (kids who are typically 5-7 years old) and are too young to walk to school by themselves. As a result, if a bus were not provided, the likely outcome is that they would be driven to school by their parent and the notion of the route being "hazardous" is a red herring.
As a parent of a 3rd grader at South Mountain School, I completely sympathize with the challenges parents have in getting their kids to school on time while also trying to get themselves to work on time. When my daughter was in Kindergarten & 1st grade, she went to school at South Mountain Annex, which is probably about a mile from my house. However, since the school is up an extremely steep hill without any sidewalks, we were forced to drive her to school and adjust our work schedules. In hindsight, should we have lobbied to have our route designated "hazardous", as well, so we could receive busing from the District? Likewise, I imagine there are MANY neighborhoods in town that take "hazardous" routes to school.
Should busing be provided to all students? Should all busing be eliminated?
I'd love to hear what you think.
