Parents Protest Change in Busing Policy : Ventura: Critics complain that the new route forces Cabrillo Middle School students to walk through unsafe areas.

Upset that their children must walk or ride their bikes through a beachfront area they consider unsafe, a group of Ventura parents are demanding that school officials reinstate a bus stop in their neighborhood.

The parents, whose children attend Cabrillo Middle School, said new school busing policies require their children to either walk along traffic-congested Harbor Boulevard or, worse, San Buenaventura State Beach to get to school.

They said they are concerned because the beach is not well-secured and is frequented by transients.

“It’s not safe to go through the park,” said Kathie Psota, a Pierpont Bay resident whose child attends Cabrillo. “There are a lot of things that happen there that are not reported in the newspaper. I want my son on the bus the same as all the other kids.”

But officials of the Ventura Unified School District said Monday that Psota’s 11-year-old son is not eligible to ride the bus under district policy because he lives within two miles of Cabrillo.

Acting Superintendent Joseph Spirito acknowledged that the busing regulations have not been enforced for several years. However, he said because of new school boundaries and a tighter budget this year the district can no longer afford to provide free transportation to students within the two-mile limit.

Spirito said the district is obviously concerned about the welfare of its students, but it is not responsible for their safety to and from school.

“If we made a decision to bus students based only on safety, we’d run into all kinds of problems,” he said. “The district cannot get involved in the safety of the streets.”

The school board is scheduled to discuss the issue at its meeting tonight, at 7:30 at Ventura City Hall. One proposal that might be considered is charging for home-to-school transportation, which would allow the district to expand its bus service.

“That’s a viable option,” Spirito said. “We only have so much money to work with.”

The trouble began two weeks ago when parents were notified that the district’s long-ignored bus policy would be strictly enforced beginning Sept. 14.

As a result, Cabrillo students living northwest of Peninsula Street are no longer eligible for free transportation. And the bus stop at Pierpont Avenue and New Bedford Court was changed to Seahorse Avenue and Oyster Street, a half-mile away.

Several parents, including Psota, said they received the notices, but others, like Terry R. Lekoff, said they were never informed. Lekoff said his son, James, 10, was left without a ride on the first day the policy was enforced.

“They did this without consulting parents,” Lekoff said. “They didn’t realize they were going to stir up a hornet’s nest in the Pierpont area.”

On Monday, Lekoff and Psota accompanied Spirito, Assistant Superintendent Joseph Richards and Steve Penny, director of transportation, on a walk along Pierpont Avenue and San Buenaventura State Beach.

No transients were spotted on the beach during the walking tour, but Psota and Lekoff noted that security was also absent.

Jerry Weil, a state park ranger, said two rangers are assigned to patrol San Buenaventura as well as McGrath and Emma Wood beaches from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. Weil said that there are occasionally transients who sleep on the beach.

“‘There’s no way of closing the beach,” he said. “There are no gates or fences.”

Students returning home from school said they occasionally see transients in the beach park but have not been bothered by them.

A few students said they didn’t mind riding their bikes to school. But others said they preferred to take the bus.

“It’s too far to ride your bike,” said Marcell Porter, 13, who was riding his bike alongside his friend Charlie Russo, 13. “When you get to school you’re all sweaty.”

Russo agreed but said he has no choice.

“My parents think it’s stupid,” he said of the new busing policy. “They don’t like it.”

Bob Reiner escorted his son, Bob, 13, to and from school Monday to see what it was like. Both rode bikes.

The elder Reiner said he had some concerns about safety and advised his son to be sure and ride his bike to school with a friend. Reiner said he doesn’t plan to protest the district’s decision to cut back on transportation because he knows it no longer has the money to provide the services it used to.

“The school budget is the real problem,” he said. “They don’t have any money.”

School Bus Stop Changes

The Ventura Unified School District recently decided to reorganize dozens of its bus routes to comply with new school boundaries. But parents in the Pierpont Bay area say their children are being forced to walk through unsafe areas and are demanding that the district reverse its policy of not providing transportation to students who live within two miles of Cabrillo Middle School.