A number of families in the Village Colonials neighborhood of South Orange got some unexpected and unwelcome news on August 29: after years of bus service for elementary students zoned for South Mountain School, they will be without a bus when the school year begins on Sept. 7.
The news was surprising on several fronts: The neighborhood, which is closer to Clinton Elementary, has been zoned for South Mountain for years in an effort to help diversify the student body and deal with school overcrowding; safe walking routes from the neighborhood appear to be at the 1.25-mile distance now allowed for courtesy busing to support the district’s Intentional Integration Initiative; the route has multiple dangerous intersections that students must cross at Prospect, Valley and Ridgewood; and, parents argue, elevation changes in the route make it difficult for elementary school students to complete in a timely and safe manner and qualify the route as hazardous per the district’s own policy.
Parents were also surprised that busing was being cut after a year of high-profile conversations around expanding busing — including a successful settlement by families representing 45 students seeking hazardous route designation (none from Village Colonials) and a $1.56M expansion of the annual tax levy to support the restoration of courtesy busing for elementary students.
A map of a suggested route from Kilburn Place to South Mountain School by SOPD measures the distance at 1.3 miles.
In response to emails from parents, Supt. of Schools Dr. Ronald Taylor said that a crossing guard at Third and Ridgewood had now been added and the route was therefore no longer deemed hazardous. In addition, the district shared an email response that Taylor has been sending to parents in which he wrote, “They used many factors to determine which routes are hazardous in our community in an exhaustive review that included accident history, physical in-person review, comparative analysis, etc. We relied on the expertise of the Engineer who we contracted with.” See the full email from Taylor to parents below. [Update: Village Green has found copies of the hazardous routes reports — corridors and intersections — on the district website here. The reports do not appear to evaluate corridors for “steep inclines and declines” as mandated by district policy. Village Green has emailed the district for clarification. See the reports downloaded below.]
Village Colonials parents disagreed with the assessment.
“Even with crossing guards in place at certain intersections, none of the possible walking routes between our home and the school can be considered safe enough for elementary school-aged children to walk to school independently,” wrote parent Emily Regas in an email to the district which she shared with Village Green.
“It is my sincere hope that we will be informed as soon as possible of the outcome of this evaluation and that my daughter will receive a bus pass for this school year,” wrote Regas. “My kids have received bus passes for South Mountain for the past eight years because it is a hazardous route. The addition of a crossing guard at 3rd and Ridgewood is the only safety improvement to have taken place recently. Numerous other safety concerns still exist.”
A walking route recommended by the South Orange PD shows elevation changes and distance from the Village Colonial neighborhood to South Mtn. School.
Regas and other parents also contended that the elevation changes for the journey to South Mountain School were not taken into account as is required by the district’s own policy — Policy 8600.1 Hazardous Routes — which names “Roads and highways with steep inclines and declines” as one of the criteria for designating such routes.
She also says that neighbors have consulted with the South Orange Police Department on the safest route. She shared two maps that the SOPD outlined as safe: both measured at 1.3 miles, “more than the courtesy busing cut-off.”
Another parent, Jane Cohen, says that one of her children will have a bus to the South Mtn. Annex, while another child will not have a bus to South Mountain Elementary.
“It’s a real nightmare,” said Cohen in terms of logistics with the need to wait with one child for the bus while getting out the door at 7:20 a.m. to make it to school on time for the second child (the South Mountain School bell rings at 8:03 a.m.). “Anytime you’re dealing with two kids on separate systems, it’s tough,” said Cohen, who says that realistically it will take an 8-year-old 40 minutes with a full backpack, Chromebook and water bottle to make it down to the valley and up the hill to school. (Cohen also notes that the crossing guard at Prospect is not on duty until 7:30 a.m.)
Parent Karen Tershana agreed with Cohen, saying she had walked the route last Sunday with her child and it took 40 minutes. Tershana noted that they would have to leave so early that they would be covering half the route before crossing guards were on duty.
Another parent, who asked that her name not be used, pleaded with the district to provide relief or a subscription option: “If the result of the evaluation is a decision by the district that this route still does not qualify as hazardous, I urge the district to allow our family to pay a subscription for our son to be able to ride the bus to school. The decision to make students on routes previously documented in policy as hazardous for several years suddenly ineligible for transportation one week before the start of the new school year without having a subscription option ready is reckless, dangerous, and places an unreasonable burden on families. Saying that a subscription option may be implemented within a year’s time is not a sufficient response.”
Tershana questioned how the district was applying the measurement software: “The law states that our route should be calculated based on door to door distance from our homes to school, however, the software from Versatrans is not calculating this way. They are using the closest point to the home address at the point of the curb and to the curb of the school, not the door. This is highly problematic for those of us who live right on the cusp of the cutoff.” Tershana says she has filed Open Public Records Act requests for the data.
Tershana also said that Taylor had offered no solution in terms of an appeals process. She said that she was contacted by Sarah Connelly who helped organize the parents who successfully petitioned for hazardous route relief last winter. Tershana said she would be applying for emergent relief this weekend.
Cohen noted that, in the end, parents will probably need to drive their children to South Mountain, putting more cars on already congested roads. “It’s more cars on the road. It’s less safe. It’s more emissions. We are going in the opposite direction.”
It should be noted that, parents report that students with IEPs (Individualized Education Programs) in the neighborhood are still receiving transportation.
District response
In response to questions from Village Green, South Orange-Maplewood District Communications Director Paul Brubaker wrote:
In letters that were sent on August 29th, some families in the District were informed that their home addresses do not meet the criteria for transportation for their children to their assigned schools.
The criteria are listed in Board of Education Policies 8600 and 8600.1, which pertain to courtesy bussing for children in grades pre-K through 5. (I am providing links to the policies to you.) It is important to remember that state statute (N.J.S.A. 18A:39-1) establishes the threshold for mandatory transportation (bussing) of students to high school at 2.5 miles.
The name and phone number of the interim transportation supervisor, Jerry Ford, were included on the letters that were sent to families. The website has been updated.
Brubaker’s reference to Ford was in response to a notice from Village Green and parents that former transportation director Tammy Talmadge was listed on the district website as of August 31.
Village Green asked for the number of bus applications and denials as well as reasons for the denials. Brubaker responded: “1,190 applications were filed, pre-K to 12, as of 8/31. There were a total of 281 denials, with 69 of them being in pre-K to 5 (the grades in which courtesy bussing was expanded). Again, this is as of 8/31.”
In a followup email, Brubaker sent this response that he said Dr. Taylor has been sending to parents who have contacted the District about their applications not being approved:
Please know that this is the customary time that transportation determinations are shared. It takes a lot of time to carefully finalize the review of more than 1400 (estimated) request submissions, we are proud to work with a Board that took the many steps necessary (including the substantial fiscal investment) to significantly exceed the state mandate for transportation. We understand the disappointment you have expressed but we are guided by policy and state law. Exceptions to the aforementioned, create an arbitrary situation that is inequitable to others who have made similar requests. We take no joy in denying requests and of course want our families to be happy, but we must comply with our legally binding mandates.
This change may be due to a crossing guard assignment or the results of our recent hazardous route review. For your family to receive a bus you would either have to live 1.25 miles or farther from your school, or your walking route to school would have to be considered hazardous. The assignment of a crossing guard could impact the hazardous designation. You may be aware that we contracted out with a vendor that specializes in this work (determining hazardous routes) They used many factors to determine which routes are hazardous in our community in an exhaustive review that included accident history, physical in-person review, comparative analysis, etc. We relied on the expertise of the Engineer who we contracted with. Our transportation coordinator is using the determinations of this report to make decisions on bus routes. The updated policy below also offers more details. We have also attached the hazardous routes report if you’d like to review it. We of course sympathize with your requests, but our decisions are based on policy to ensure we are equitable and transparent. Take care.
Board of Ed discusses staffing and software
Meanwhile, administration and South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education members did discuss issues around staffing and software related to transportation at the August 24 BOE meeting.
BOE Personnel Committee Chair Regina Eckert reported on two pending hires and their training by an interim, illustrating a transportation service in flux. “We also discussed the two transportation coordinator positions up for appointment on the resolution as we have just recently approved an interim. [SOMSD Business Administrator] Mr. Burnside clarified that we are not increasing the staff there, but the goal is to have the interim train both of them before he finishes up his contract, which will likely have to be extended to a certain point in order to get these two up to speed.”
The BOE also discussed the fact that the district will be transitioning to a new transportation distance measurement software this year.
BOE Finance Facilities and Technology Committee Chair Nubia Wilson reported, “The district will be slowly transitioning to Transfinder in place of Versatrans, which is what we’ve always used to calculate distances between homes and schools for transportation eligibility. Transfinder is a more accurate system and we also will save money over time switching over to this system.”
Wilson added, “This will not be officially launched this school year. It will officially launch in 24-25 school year and in the meantime it will be used along with Versatrans to observe any differences or discrepancies in how distances have been calculated. We of course asked about any change in distance and how that could affect families of Versatrans saying that ‘We get a bus but now Transfinder is saying something different.’ So that will be monitored and the district confirmed it would bring in the Division of Weights and Measures from the state to do the measure for the final number to make that fair.”
Reached for comment about the Village Colonials families loss of busing, Wilson sent the following statement, noting that it represents her views and not those of the BOE: “It is unfortunate that some families that previously qualified for transportation will no longer receive bussing and were told this fact just before school starts. Expanding transportation has been a priority for this Board since courtesy bussing was eliminated. This year, the District conducted a hazardous routes analysis, and I am really proud of that fact as the analysis and the passage of the increased funding for bussing have led to the identification of additional hazardous routes and overall more transportation for district residents than in the prior year. I will continue to refer concerns that I am hearing from the community to Dr. Taylor with an eye toward improving transportation in the future. For example, I think a subscription bus option for families is important.”
