Bus route issue
goes one way

By CHRIS CONROY

SMALLWOOD — After months of fighting to get bus routes changed, concerned parents from Smallwood once again brought their fight before the Bethel town board on May 24.

In the fall, when school began and the new routes went into effect, a handful of parents found that their children would no longer be picked up close to home. Instead, the new bus stops required students to walk down the road, in some cases just under a mile, to be picked up in the new location. One of the areas hardest hit by the change is at the end of Pine Grove Road.

“This was an established route that was in effect for years,” said Jean Schuberth, a mother who’s had children riding the bus for about 20 years. “Everyone’s child used to be picked up in front of their house… now they have to walk.” Why has it suddenly changed, she asked. The other parents and the board had the same question.

In correspondence with the Monticello school district transportation department, the parents and the town were told safety concerns prompted the change in route. New, larger 66-passenger buses were added to replace the 33- or 45-passenger buses previously running on the route. The smaller busses, according to Monticello Central School District Transportation Director Marty Gershowitz, were no longer enough to handle the growing population in the area.

The roads in question, Cliff and Lafayette Streets and Orange Avenue, were determined to be too narrow for the new busses to safely navigate.

In response to the first round of correspondence, the town, at the request of the transportation department, cut back low hanging trees and widened the roads.

After transportation department officials, town board members and concerned parents “rode through” in one of the new busses, the department said the widening efforts weren’t enough. The only way to get the routes changed back, according to the transportation department, was to make the roads in question one way.

“They’re not giving us any other options,” said Bethel supervisor Allan Scott.

“This isn’t restricted to the Town of Bethel,” said Steve Morey, another concerned parent. “I’m sure there are other people inconvenienced in other places [in the school district].”

The parents involved don’t want to pass that inconvenience off to neighbors by making the roads one way. They’re concerned that having children, especially the younger ones, walking along the narrow roads to get to the bus stop is at least as dangerous, if not more so, than bringing a bus through the streets.

“We’re concerned about the safety of our children,” Schuberth said.

“If it’s going to make it safer for the children, I say we do it,” said board member Bobby Blaise, who also expressed concern that the school district would continue to make changes to routes, forcing the town to make more changes than it would feel comfortable supporting.

Still, the town board agreed there were few other options. “We can appeal to the school board,” Scott said, “[But] it’s out of our jurisdiction… from what I’ve seen, this isn’t going to get us anywhere without 100 people with placards [protesting].”

“My experience,” said Morey, “is that they [the school board] aren’t very cooperative.”

There was some concern, raised by conversation between parents and members of the transportation department, that the route change had nothing to do with the safety of children. Instead, the main concern was theorized to be financial.

“The ‘cost effective’ argument doesn’t seem right,” said board member Harold Russell. He said that when he served on the school board years ago, the transportation budget was mostly paid for through state funds.

“There is no money issue involved,” said Gershowitz. “Roughly the same time is involved [in the new route as in the old one].”

With the school year ending, the town board decided to put off any traffic pattern changes for now. Instead, it agreed to send a letter arguing its case and asking for other options to the three school principals of the schools involved (Duggan Elementary, Monticello Middle and Monticello High), the BOCES director, Monticello school superintendent Eileen Casey and Monticello school board president Jack Leshner.