VENTURA : District to Reinstate School Bus Stop

Bowing to pressure from parents, Ventura Unified School District officials said Tuesday night that the district will reinstate a bus stop in the Pierpont Bay area.

Steve Penny, director of transportation, told the board that a new bus stop will be added to the neighborhood beginning Thursday and that parents would be notified of the location before then.

The district recently moved its bus stop at Pierpont Avenue and New Bedford Court to Seahorse Avenue and Oyster Street, a half-mile away.

Parents in the neighborhood whose children attend Cabrillo Middle School were told that if they lived within two miles of the school, they would no longer be eligible for free bus transportation. Forty-five students were affected.

Parents protested the move, saying their children had to walk or ride their bikes along traffic-congested Harbor Boulevard or San Buenaventura State Beach, which is frequented by transients.

School officials, including Penny, joined parents on a walk through the beach area on Monday. Officials walked the Harbor Boulevard route on Tuesday.

Penny told the school board Tuesday night that heavy traffic on Harbor Boulevard and Seaward Avenue presented a “hazardous condition” and that this warranted an additional bus stop in the Pierpont Bay area.

“I am concerned about the budget implications” of adding another bus stop in the neighborhood, he said. “But I believe the best interests of the students will be served.”

Terry Lekoff, one of about 20 parents who attended the board meeting and who had protested the change in busing policy, said he was pleased and surprised.

“I’m shocked,” he said. “I did not expect this. I have to commend the administrators for backing off. I feel it’s a victory for the students in the Pierpont area, for their safety.”