School busing controversy in Austintown is at an end

It appears that officials of the Austintown School District and area Catholic schools have found a solution to the highly explosive subject of busing. But, residents are left to wonder why the impending agreement to reinstate district busing for Catholic school students could not have been worked out before the issue ignited a fire storm of protest in May.

Austintown parents who send their children to St. Christine, Ursuline High and Mollie Kessler schools were up in arms over a decision by Superintendent Vincent Colaluca and his staff to no longer bus students to private schools. Instead, parents were told that the students would receive Western Reserve Transit Authority vouchers. The plan was to have taken effect this fall.

A front-page story in The Vindicator in May that detailed the superintendent’s decision enraged parents, who let their feelings be known in print and on the airwaves.

They not only objected to their children having to use public transportation — a cautionary note from WRTA Executive Director James Ferraro fueled the flames — but were incensed that members of the board of education had chosen to remain silent. Board members said the WRTA plan was developed at the administrative level, thus making the superintendent and his staff responsible,

For his part, Ferraro, who has served for many years as head of the metropolitan transit system, said that regardless of the routes ultimately developed to prevent students from having to take one bus to the downtown terminal and then transfer to another to get to school, there could be no exclusive use of the buses. In other words, the public could also get on.

In addition, the WRTA executive director pointed out that his buses do not have safety equipment, such as flashing lights that school buses feature.

It was obvious that the Austintown School District had a public relations disaster in the making. Objections to the plan — it would have had the effect of forcing private school students to either use public transportation or to find private means of getting to school — drowned out the district’s argument that busing students to private schools was becoming cost prohibitive.

Safety concerns

Indeed, last year, Austintown used the bus voucher system for students attending Youngstown Christian School. But because of the safety concerns, parents decided to drive their children or to carpool.

A comment from Mike Pecchia, president of YCS, about riding the WRTA route his students would take, further exacerbated the situation.

“There is no way a parent would feel safe sending their kids on there.”

Now, three months after the fur hit the fan in Austintown, an agreement is in the offing to reinstate Austintown busing for Catholic school students.

The superintendent would not provide the details to a Vindicator reporter because the plan had not been finalized. But it appears that the Catholic schools will have to adjust end-of-school scheduling to enable the Austintown students to ride the district’s buses.

When Superintendent Colaluca does talk about the finer points, we would hope he addresses the following question: What is different today than three months ago when the decision to give private school students bus vouchers seemed etched in stone?