John Boyle
Wed, 25 Aug 2004 18:17:58 -0700
Bus change angers parents
By JOHN ANASTASI
The Intelligencer
More than 100 Montgomery Township children who rode North Penn School District buses to Mary Mother of the Redeemer grade school last year will be walking this September, and the idea is not sitting well with their parents.
"They are being required to walk on Upper State Road to and from school," said parent Mary Kay Kelm of Kelsey Drive in the Montgomery Hill development. "At times the traffic is very heavy there and the speed limit is 45 mph. We consider it a dangerous road and we don't think they should be walking along there."
The change hits Mary Mother of the Redeemer children living in the developments east of Doylestown Road between Grays Lane and Horsham Road.
According to state law, the North Penn School District must bus children living in its boundaries even if they attend private schools. They do not, however, have to bus students who live within walking distance - set at 2 miles for secondary school students and 1.5 miles for elementary school students - if the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation deems the roads they would take to be safe.
"In the confusion of getting MMR up and running last year, (the district) decided to bus everyone the first year, then go back and look at the state code," said Marianne Cleary, North Penn's coordinator of transportation. "We asked PennDOT to look at the area in question to see if the area is safe to walk to school."
According to Cleary, the study considered traffic volume, speed, the presence of sidewalks, the conditions at hours when the children would be walking and other criteria. It found the area between Grays Lane and Horsham Road to be safe for walkers, she said.
"We didn't do anything without PennDOT coming out and looking at it," said Cleary.
She added the western side of Upper State Road - the side where Mary Mother of the Redeemer is located - does have sidewalks and that they are separated from the road by a wide strip of grass.
Mary Mother of the Redeemer principal Joanne Zinn said she understands the concerns the school's parents are raising.
"They are up in arms," she said. "They have little kids wearing backpacks ... These people will not go quietly. If they had never bused there before, that would be one thing. But we've got 135 kids who are now supposed to walk and they're all going to funnel down to Upper State Road."
A group of parents took their complaint to the Montgomery Township Board of Supervisors on Monday night and asked township Police Chief Richard Brady to compile traffic counts and recent accident totals for Upper State Road.
Zinn said the group expects to attend next Monday's meeting of North Penn's support services committee to ask the district to reconsider its decision.
John Anastasi can be reached at (215) 957-8166 or [EMAIL PROTECTED].