Wasteful busing expense
To the editor:
I have 30 years experience in public education from teaching to administration. I spent 20 of those years in the Gwinnett Co. Public Schools of Atlanta, GA. I have a fair understanding of how a school district runs and what is needed to run one effectively and efficiently.
Today I was kept waiting on Stringfellow Road while three 60 passenger school buses pulled out of a street in Tropical Point transporting two to four students each to middle schools in Lee County. Last year one senior high school student was transported by bus every day to a Lee County school more than 30 miles away while other school buses transported other local high school students to at least three other high schools. The picture developing here is unbelievable in a time when Lee County Public Schools are announcing teacher layoffs, program cancellations and economic hardship.
Studies on school choice done in several major cities over the last five years have shown that parents generally choose a school other than their child’s designated attendance school based on convenience to the parent’s workplace for after school pick-up. The decision is not generally based on the educational excellence of a school. In fact, if most students did attend their designated attendance schools then others would not be gutted of students, programs and a sense of community spirit and parental support.
The cost of running multiple buses to the same destination for a couple of students is staggering in terms of fuel, number of buses needed, personnel and time on dangerous roads for our children. How can the district not see this as a tremendously unnecessary expenditure on very tight district budgets. Many large school districts that offer school choice allow students to apply to a desired school if there is room with the understanding that transportation is the responsibility of the parents if the child attends a school outside of their attendance zone.
We can only hope that Lee County Public Schools makes a decision for children and their education, not for more buses on the road.
Guylyn DeMeyere
St. James City