Pedestrian students without sidewalks can use bus
By: Lacey Korevec
For years, Cranbury school board members have felt that the district’s policy on students who walk to school needed to be more clear and consistent.
On Tuesday, the board revised its busing policy to state that walkers who live on a road without a sidewalk or on a road where the speed limit is over 25 mph may be bused if the board and the administration deems it necessary. However, the district is not required to bus those students.
The original policy stated that the board will only "provide transportation to and from school for public school pupils in grades kindergarten through eight who live more than two miles from the school they attend."
Over the years, the board has used its discretion when it comes to busing, sometimes busing those who lived within the two-mile radius based on the safety of a given area.
Board member Joan Weidner said the new policy gives the board more flexibility when making those exceptions.
"It’s a very minor change, but it’s something we think will work well for us," she said. "It will be consistent and fair."
The revised policy adds that those students "who live two miles or less from the school and whose route to school has a sidewalk or a 25-mph zone will walk to school. No pupil shall be required to cross a road that is in excess of 25 mph without the presence of a crossing guard or traffic signal."
The district has already been busing some walkers within the two-mile radius based on the safety of their routes, Ms. Weidner said. But the language in the policy needed to be clearer regarding which walkers’ routes are exceptions to the policy.
"We’ve been dabbling with this every year, trying to come up with a consistent policy," she said. "The fundamental goal we have is to make sure all the kids are safe getting to and from school."
Ms. Weidner said the board and the administration decide which routes are unsafe on an individual basis.
"Anytime you get into decisions about safety and health it becomes difficult because you’re dealing with a safety issue, and we want to do the right thing," she said.
Ms. Weidner said those decisions won’t be made until the end of the summer when Kaye Davison, a school bus driver who is in charge of transportation at Cranbury School, sits down with the school board to draw up next year’s bus routes.
Parents can expect letters in the mail in late August telling them whether their children will be walkers, she said. Until then, parents of walkers who are concerned their children’s route is hazardous should contact the school board to discuss the issue, she said.
Bill Reilley, of Cranbury Neck Road, said Tuesday night that his children are walkers but their route is unsafe because there is a passing zone on his road. He said that his wife, who works as a crossing guard on another road in town, may have to cut back on her work hours to make sure her own children can get to school safely.
"I just want that to be considered when you make this decision," he said. "This isn’t just a matter of ‘I don’t feel like walking my child to school.’ This is a safety issue."
Ms. Weidner said the board will have the opportunity to deem parts of Cranbury Neck Road unsafe for walkers because of the passing zone.
"All this policy says now is that his children are walkers," she said. "But the board and the administration have the option to determine that the route is a hazardous route and we should bus them. Those hazardous routes are not spelled out on the policy and are instead done on a yearly basis because families move."