Pupil Asks School to Sit on Other Side of Bus

Ten-year-old Kimberly Carpenter would like to see things from a different point of view, but it’s against school rules.

San Pasqual Elementary School officials make girls sit on the right side of the bus and boys on the left.

Kimberly, a brown-hair girl with a ponytail and freckles, has tried to sit on the left side, but the bus drivers would not let her.

“I want to sit on the other side and look out the window,” Kimberly said. “I’ve seen everything out my windows, and I’ve sat in all the seats.”

Kimberly and her father, Harold Carpenter, have taken their dispute to the school board and a school district lawyer.

The bus seating arrangement has “just been going on forever” in the district 40 miles northeast of San Diego, said Jane Trussell, 77, the school’s librarian and former superintendent, who has worked there more than 50 years.

“It’s been that way primarily to ensure more safety and prevent the children from harassing each other. Nobody complained or had anything to say about it. The bus driver has enough to do without having more discipline problems on the bus.”

Robert Johnson, a driver of 13 years, agreed.

“It gives an element of safety you wouldn’t have otherwise,” he said. “Teasing can get vicious.”

A few weeks ago, Kimberly asked her father why she couldn’t sit on the other side of the bus. Carpenter, a computer equipment salesman and former San Pasqual school board member, decided to pursue the issue.

The board asked Supt. Gordon Christensen to look into it, and he called the district’s attorney, who said the policy is legal.

“Nobody’s being denied anything,” Christensen said. “It’s not that anybody’s being assigned to a less desirable place on the bus.”

The separation “makes it so girls don’t bug boys,” said 9-year-old Drew Stuck. “They bug a lot of people. They make fun of you.”

Joe Symkowick, general counsel for the California Department of Education, said the legality of separating the sexes depends on the reasons behind it.

“The difficulty is . . . when you’re treating each gender equally, but separating the genders,” Symkowick said. “We don’t really have a particular case on that matter yet.”