Parents in one neighborhood in Millstone Township are up in arms over what they see as a serious threat to their children’s safety.
The Board of Education has moved the bus stop from their residential street in the Whispering Springs development, with few cars driving past, out onto an extremely busy and heavily traveled county road.
In a township with no sidewalks, this will surely put children at risk while they are waiting for the bus to take them to school only a few feet away from cars traveling at high speeds.
Residents of the development said that they had hit a brick wall in discussing the matter with school officials, who say that the minimum turning radius necessary for a school bus is 80 feet, while the neighborhood’s street is only 72 feet wide.
However, as the residents pointed out at last week’s Township Committee meeting, the buses had been traveling down their street for years.
The residents and Township Committee members said that this situation has become a problem in more than one neighborhood, leading some of them to believe that the move was made to increase the efficiency of the bus routes in order to save the school district money.
While many in the community would definitely throw support behind cost-saving measures in the school district, doing so at the expense of the community’s children is sure to create many angry parents.
At the committee meeting, township officials appeared ready and willing to take up the issue on their end if necessary. With the end of summer upon us and township children returning to school next week, officials should address this problem now.