Bus students to JFK, parents say

The Brookfield schools
superintendent says the
district doesn’t have the money.

By TIM YOVICH

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

WARREN — A Brookfield High School parent is asking a Trumbull County Common Pleas Court judge to order the school district to bus students who attend John F. Kennedy High School in Warren.

The complaint seeking the writ of mandamus was filed Thursday by Valerie Luchette of Northview Drive, Brookfield.

Brookfield schools Superintendent Steve Stohl said Friday the district doesn’t have the money to provide transportation to JFK, but he is putting together a cost analysis for the school board to determine how much it will cost.

The lawsuit was filed on Luchette’s behalf by Attys. Ronald Rice and Robert C. Kokor. Rice, of Brookfield, the judge in Trumbull County Eastern District Court, and his wife, Judge Cynthia Rice of the 11th District Court of Appeals, have a son who attends JFK. His son drives to school, Rice noted.

There are about 15 students in the district who attend the Catholic school rather than Brookfield High School.

According to the complaint, the school board approved a resolution in September 2006 claiming that providing transportation to JFK students was impractical and offered to pay the parents to transport their own children. The parents declined the offer.

The issue went before a hearing officer, the complaint says, who agreed with the parents. The Ohio Board of Education agreed with the officer’s recommendations.

The lawsuit points out that state law requires if the local school board’s determination of impracticality is not upheld, then “transportation shall be provided by such local board.”

The case has been assigned to Judge John M. Stuard.

Luchette wants the judge to order the school board to transport the students to JFK. If the board doesn’t comply, she is seeking that each member be fined $500 and held in contempt of court.

Stohla said he doesn’t know how the board will respond.

“I don’t know where it’s going. We’re struggling financially,” the superintendent said, adding that the district doesn’t have enough money to buy a bus, even a used one.

Rice said the school district’s enrollment has dropped dramatically in the last three years, and it has the same number of buses that could be rerouted to free one that could transport the students.

He added that state law requires that if a trip takes less than 30 minutes, the district must bus. Rice claimed the trip from Brookfield to Warren takes 23 minutes.

yovich@vindy.com