Trustees Stick to School Busing Change : Petitions From Parents of Saddleback Valley Students Rebuffed

Over angry protests from some parents, Saddleback Valley Unified School District trustees voted Tuesday night for a change in school bus service that will require many students to walk up to 3 1/2 miles to school or find alternative transportation this fall.

A group of about a dozen irate parents whose children will be affected by the new plan brought signs to the school board meeting and confronted trustees with their safety concerns.

The parents, who call their group Parents Against Unsafe Education, or PAUSE, and are led by El Toro resident Len Nawrocki, presented petitions with about 400 names of district parents who oppose the change.

Kathy Breeze of El Toro told trustees: “I don’t think a school district should jeopardize the safety of our students to save money.”

Nawrocki said: “On one of the signs tonight you see the initial PAUSE. That’s what we’re asking you to do with your vote. . . . File your vote with the (news) articles of the young child in Orange County killed on her way to school. Ask yourself if you can justify these budget issues over real-world issues of the community.”

But board members said the new plan is the only way to improve the district’s transportation problem without cutting funding from other parts of the district budget. Board members urged parents to ask their legislators for more money for busing.

“Safety has been our concern and consideration. It cannot be measured in dollars and cents. We agree,” trustee Raghu Mathur said. “Can we really solve all of these problems that you have presented us? We are trying to strike a balance with as many as possible.”

One resident, Bobbie Klein of El Toro, supported the board’s decision. She passed out addresses of local legislators and urged parents to start a letter-writing campaign.

But opposing parents vowed to fight the plan and agreed to meet to discuss strategy.

According to the plan, bus service will be provided free, but minimum walking distances will be increased and elementary school schedules staggered to begin at 7:45, 8:30 and 9:15 a.m. to better coordinate bus schedules. Most elementary schools now begin between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.

Since 1982, the district had charged parents $135 per student each year for student transportation. But last December, a state directive barred school districts from charging fees for bus service after a Ventura appellate court ruled the fees unconstitutional. The board then refunded bus service fees to parents.

The district now requires a minimum walking distance of three-quarters of a mile for kindergartners through sixth-graders, 1 mile for seventh- and eighth-graders and 2 miles for high school students. Under the new plan, kindergartners through second-graders living within a mile of school will not be eligible to ride the bus.

Also ineligible for bus service will be third- through sixth-graders living within 2 miles, junior high students living within 2 1/2 miles and high school students living within 3 1/2 miles. The district will evaluate the minimum walking distance for all these grades annually and will make changes if necessary, trustees said.

Before the state’s decision, about 4,400 of the district’s 23,000 students received home-to-school transportation, said Robert Cornelius, assistant superintendent of business services. Since the ruling, the number increased to about 6,000 students, causing the district to increase three of its bus routes to include stops for the extra students.