Parents Oppose Plan to Stop Neighborhoods’ Bus Service
By Katherine Cromer Brock, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Sep. 1–COLLEYVILLE — Becky Boydstun waved and took pictures as her son Alex boarded bus No. 228 in her rural Colleyville neighborhood.
Wednesday marked Alex’s first bus ride to kindergarten at Colleyville Elementary School, a rite of passage that Boydstun was proud to witness. But she is disheartened that younger children in her neighborhood may never have that experience.
Grapevine-Colleyville school district officials plan to suspend bus service from northwest Colleyville neighborhoods to Colleyville Elementary School at the end of this semester. The move could affect more than 100 children.
The district sent letters Aug. 13 to about 120 households, notifying the families that free bus service will be suspended. Because Colleyville Elementary School was built a block to the west of the old school, children in those neighborhoods now live within two miles of the school.
Under district and state policy, students who live within two miles of a school are not eligible for free bus rides unless the route they walk is deemed hazardous.
The letter states that the district will spend the fall semester evaluating whether any of the areas inside the two-mile radius should be classified as hazardous as defined by the Texas Association of Pupil Transportation. Officials will review the distance, sidewalks, traffic controls and density, and the number of major intersections that are crossed.
But parents didn’t want to wait until the end of the semester for a ruling. Five parents attended Grapevine-Colleyville’s board meeting this week to protest the end of rides.
“I’m concerned about the safety of my two children,” Joan Debrei said at the meeting. “It is a hazardous route. We did not move. The school moved.”
Debrei waited with her two daughters at the bus stop at Hunter Trail and Colts Neck Court on Wednesday.
If the 18 children gathered at the stop that morning had walked to school, they would have traveled down two-lane roads lined with ditches and no sidewalks. They would have had to cross a railroad track at L.D. Lockett and Pleasant Run roads. The route is just under two miles.
“I would love for the school board to walk the route,” said Mindy McClure, who has a kindergartner and a second-grader. McClure lives off John McCain Road. “They’re doing this with the expectation that children will be walking this. There’s no way.”
Many of the parents at the bus stop said that if busing is canceled, they’ll either pay for their children to ride the bus or drive them.
“The drive-through at the school is not big enough to accommodate the turnout from this,” Cheryl Searle said. “That’s another 40 or 50 cars, at least.”
District spokeswoman Megan Overman said the decision to end bus service to the neighborhood is not set in stone.
“Are we concerned about safety? Yes,” Overman said. “Ultimately, we want to have our kids have safe travel to and from school.”
Busing
Parents who live within two miles of a school can apply to Grapevine-Colleyville Transportation Services to pay for busing, which is granted based on these criteria:
Space must be available on a bus that serves the student’s school and neighborhood.
Approval is granted on a first-come, first-served basis. There may be a waiting list.
Permission will be revoked if the bus reaches capacity. The last students granted permission will be the first removed.
The annual cost is $200 for a family’s first child and $120 for each additional child. Payment can also be made monthly or by semester. Students who qualify for the free or reduced-lunch program will be exempt from bus fees.
Source: Grapevine-Colleyville school district
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kcromer@star-telegram.com Katherine Cromer Brock, 817-685-3813
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