Busing Students
No one can dispute The Times’ contention that the terrible accident involving the school bus and the trash truck was indeed a “Tragedy That Need Not Have Occurred” (editorial, Dec. 8).
We would like to point out, however, that your editorial mischaracterized the busing of 70,000 children daily as the “unfortunate outgrowth of school overcrowding.” We do have chronic and severe overcrowding in certain portions of the district. Because state funds for the construction of new schools are not plentiful, busing students to other schools where space is available is one of several solutions used to relieve overcrowding. However, as accurately stated in one of your Dec. 7 news stories about the accident, only one in seven students (about 10,000) is bused mandatorily for that reason.
The great majority of the 70,000 students who travel by bus are either enrolled in voluntary school integration programs or are provided transportation because they attend special schools or programs for students with disabilities.
BRAD SALES
Assistant to the Superintendent,
Communications, LAUSD
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