Campbell board weighs busing high-schoolers

By JEANNE STARMACK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

CAMPBELL — The school board is considering options for busing high school students, which the school district hasn’t done since the 1970s.

The district buses kindergarten through eighth-grade students but stopped busing high school students 40-some years ago — no one is really sure why, Superintendent Thomas Robey has said.

The abduction and rape of a sophomore who was on her way to school the morning of Oct. 12 quickly raised questions about whether busing should be offered for the high school, however. The girl had a 11‚Ñ2-mile walk to school.

At the October board meeting, Robey said he would be reviewing the issue. At its meeting Tuesday, Robey gave a map to each board member that outlines two geographical options for busing for high-schoolers, and he gave pros and cons for adding the busing.

The first option includes busing 135 students in two areas. One area is bounded by Robinson Road and Struthers-Liberty Road. The other, in the northwest part of the city, is bounded by Coitsville Road, Courtland Avenue and Woodland Avenue.

The second option encompasses a smaller area bounded by Ninth Street, Gordon Avenue, 12th Street, Tremble Avenue and Sycamore Street. It would provide busing for 81 students. The pros of busing high-schoolers include increasing attendance and less tardiness; safety in bad driving conditions; and the creation of two new jobs — two more bus drivers would be needed.

The cons include the cost — $15,000 per driver; the need to add three new routes, with one being absorbed by a route that exists now; wear and tear, bus maintenance and fuel costs; the use of two spare buses for the new routes, leaving the district with no spares for field trips, extracurricular activities or break-downs; bus-stop security issues; and issues with picking bus-stop locations.

Robey also said there is an overall concern for district finances.

“Are we going to survey students to see how many would be interested in riding a bus?” asked board member Beth Donofrio.

High School Principal Richard Gozur said the number of students walking to the high school is “far less” than before the rape. He said he estimates ridership would be at least 75 percent “due to the number of cars out front.”

“Kids might ride the bus rather than drive in the winter,” he also pointed out.

The school board also heard from a Campbell Parent Teacher Organization member who said there have been complaints about elementary school busing.

Erika Miller told the board that there are children as young as 7 and 8 walking from the school on Struthers-Liberty Road, where there are no sidewalks. She said parents have complained to the PTO that busing isn’t available for all elementary students.

Dr. Robert Walls, elementary school principal, said the district does assign each child a bus unless parents say they don’t need one. He and transportation supervisor Thomas Mesaros said the district sends a letter to parents at the beginning of the school year to notify them they are eligible for busing.

Walls said he doesn’t understand how students could be walking on Struthers-Liberty Road, because teachers put them on buses.