The Berkeley Heights Public School Busing Controversy Is Not Going Away

-Jessica Lesperance

I’m sharing another email that I sent to the entire BOE, Dr. Varley and Ms. Sheehan on August 23rd regarding busing. Not surprisingly, I did not receive a response. At the board meeting this week a few people asked about courtesy busing and inquired as to what the plan was, and the response was that they are trying to engage a third party to conduct a survey – but still no timeline. I also heard Angela Penna say “I know this is frustrating, but we want to make sure this time we do it properly” which is probably the closest we will get to any sort of acknowledgement that there is a problem and the busing situation is inequitable.

Dr. Varley, Ms. Sheehan, and Board of Ed Members,

 

I’m reaching out regarding the busing situation in town. Over the past 6+ months there have been discussions regarding courtesy busing in committee meetings and public board meetings. There has also been much community discussion surrounding the topic.

 

What the community keeps hearing is that “the board is going to look into it, but not until after the 23-24 school year starts”. We’ve yet to be provided with accurate counts from the district on how many students receive courtesy busing, (which is a number that is reported to the state on an annual basis, so the numbers are most certainly available, and even if they weren’t, could be easily calculated) much less a list of criteria that qualifies a particular student/family for courtesy busing.

 

I’ve heard a traffic study mentioned among other things, but my concern is that we are months away from starting the budget process for the 24-25 school year with no real plan and it seems like we will be in the same situation when that time comes around. My request of you at this point in time is to share the plan for what actions will be taken along with a timeline to address the courtesy busing inequities. 

 

For the record, I think the subscription busing program is wonderful and gives families an option for transportation that may be more convenient or in some cases even necessary. I’m more than happy to pay my fair share for this service. However, it is incredibly upsetting to know that some families receive this same service for free. The fact that taxpayers are funding busing for certain students, that don’t qualify for mandated busing, yet we are charging other families for the same service, without providing any criteria is inexcusable; it is arbitrary and capricious. Those of you that are sitting back quietly and defending this or continue to delay taking action should be ashamed of yourselves. I implore you to (re)consider your position on this and make addressing this situation a priority.

 

The 3 key words on the district logo are Include, Inspire, Empower yet those words are certainly not reflective of this situation. The taxpayers and community deserve better than this.

 

I look forward to your response detailing the plan and timelime for actions that will be taken to address this situation. Additionally, if you are looking for community members to be part of a committee to look into this, provide feedback, etc I’m more than happy to volunteer my time.