St. Paul School and Notre Dame High School students affected
By: Courtney Gross
In a last-ditch attempt to provide busing for private school children who live in West Windsor and Plainsboro, administrators, parents and state Assemblywoman Linda R. Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) gathered in the Community Middle School auditorium Wednesday evening looking for answers.
The meeting concluded on an optimistic note.
Approximately 50 parents attended what West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District and Mercer County administrators called "a workshop session." It was an attempt to find a solution for frustrated parents whose children have either no transportation to private schools in the area or are set to ride buses for nearly 1½ hours to schools only several miles away.
Nearly an hour into the meeting, the district’s transportation coordinator, Ed Treadaway, and Richard Tisone, vice president of Lion Tours, a bus company in Levittown, Pa., quickly began negotiating a short-term agreement in the middle school’s cafeteria.
The possible solution, if a contract is approved by the Board of Education and there are enough students for each bus, would provide two buses in the morning for students attending both St. Paul School in Princeton and Notre Dame High School in Lawrence, and one bus in the afternoon.
The lack of busing is primarily affecting students who attend St. Paul and Notre Dame, officials said. As of Wednesday, 28 students from the elementary school and 22 from the high school did not have busing, district officials added. The possible quick-fix agreement between the district’s transportation coordinator and Lion Tours would provide transportation for those students.
To ensure enough students would be on the buses to meet Mr. Tisone’s price, district officials counted the raised hands of parents in the audience one hand for each child at either school.
But on Thursday, the solution, which looked favorable on Wednesday, was still being worked out, Mr. Treadaway said.
The problem, which has dogged the district over the past month, is statewide, officials said.
State law mandates all public school districts provide either busing, or a specific amount of financial aid for private school children, officials said. This year, the district had to provide busing at a rate of $826 per student.
In comparison, the most expensive public school route for the district, Mr. Treadaway said Wednesday evening, is a little more than $530 per student.
When district officials put out their first round of bids in early June for private school busing, only one firm responded within the acceptable, state-mandated rate, Mr. Treadaway said.
Last year, the district was able to provide eight separate routes for private school children in the district, he added. But this year, only three routes could be accepted at the state-mandated rate.
State law also prevents the district from supplementing cost or allowing parents to cover the difference, officials said.
"They have got us in a straightjacket," Superintendent Robert Loretan said Wednesday.
Lion Tours, which has provided transportation for private school children in the district for the past several years, Mr. Tisone said, had initially bid $38,000 for an annual route in West Windsor and Plainsboro a price beyond the state cap. The rising cost of fuel led Mr. Tisone to initially bid that amount, he said.
But second thoughts brought him back to the district Wednesday evening.
"I have a soft spot," Mr. Tisone said. "I am going to try to run it more efficient," he said of his possible routes.
Although an agreement is being negotiated for the start of school next week, parents are not holding their breath. Helen Persing, who has two daughters at Notre Dame, said public school children and private school children should be treated equally and each given convenient transportation.
"For the amount of taxes we pay in this town, I think it’s very unfair," Ms. Persing said. "I just don’t understand why New Jersey is running into this problem," she added.
And for parents whose children have already been assigned routes, long bus rides and stops far from their home on major roads are a major concern.
Kathy Brazil, whose children have all attended St. Paul, said her daughter will be standing on New Village Road in West Windsor at 6:21 a.m. when school starts more than an hour later.
"An hour and 15 minutes for elementary schools, that’s insane," Ms. Brazil said of the bus routes.
As for a long-term solution, Assemblywoman Greenstein said her office will be looking into what can be done to help public and private schools provide transportation.
"Untying the hands of the school system is part of it," she said. "Flexibility is clearly important."

