Busing battle in Brookfield to be decided by the courts

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

The plaintiff’s attorneys accuse the school board of ignoring the law.

BROOKFIELD — A dispute over whether the Brookfield Local School District should provide busing to more than a dozen students attending parochial schools in Warren has landed in court.

Attorneys Ronald Rice and Robert Kokor, representing one of the parents requesting busing to John F. Kennendy High School and Blessed Sacrament School in Warren, said the parents are within the law to request busing from the district and have won previous rulings on the matter.

According to motions filed in Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas, the Brookfield Board of Education claimed busing the students would be a hardship on the district, but that argument was rejected by the State Board of Education in January.

The court filings say the district had 30 days to appeal the state ruling, but failed to do so.

Kokor said despite the findings of the State Board of Education and the Brookfield School District’s failure to file an appeal, no transportation is being provided for the students.

“They have just taken the position that they don’t care and they are not going to follow the law,” said Kokor. “That is the crux of this [court] action to make them follow the law.”

According to Rice and Kokor, Brookfield already buses students to Hubbard and other districts but refuses to provide the busing to the Warren schools requested by the parents.

Calls to several members of the Brookfield school board seeking comment were not returned.

Once the court case is finished, Kokor said the board, under Ohio law, will be forced to provide the requested busing.

“They are ultimately going to lose, it’s just a matter of how much it’s going to cost them to lose,” he said.

The case is before Judge John Stuard of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

jgoodwin@vindy.com