A handful of Sweet Home School District residents last week received letters informing them that school buses may no longer pick up their children in front of their homes.
District 55 Transportation Director L.D. Ellison said the district’s safety committee has identified three key areas which drivers consider unsafe for school buses and students. He updated the School Board about the issue Tuesday evening (November 12).
“A year ago we had a bus rollover on Mountain Home Drive and most recently we had a wreck on Scott Mountain,” Ellison said. “The accidents are happening on narrow, gravel roads.”
Ellison said the safety committee likes to see the buses working on roads at least 16 feet wide so they can move away from oncoming or passing traffic.
“Some of the identified roads are much narrower than that,” Ellison said.
Ellison said the committee has also taken into consideration such criteria as whether the roadways are straight or curvy with hills that impede visibility.
Identified roadways include a portion of Wiley Creek, a portion of Scott Mountain and a portion off Springer Road.
Five families are impacted and are being asked to work with the safety committee, including riding a bus with them, to address the issue.
The residents may be asked to transport their children to the main roadway to meet the bus, Ellison said.
“Over time, these pick up sites have been added and they shouldn’t have been,” Ellison said. “We have excellent, safety-conscious drivers. We give them the latest training but if we put them in harm’s way, eventually we’re going to get caught in an accident.”
Ellison said school buses remain nationwide a very safe mode of transportation. He noted that in the U.S. and Canada there are some 422,000 school buses in daily operation and that there are only five or six student deaths per year.
“This will work as long as we stay focused on the number one issue…safety,” Ellison said.
In other business the school board:
– Agreed to pay former district employee Judy Maniates $118,821 to settle a lawsuit filed against the district. Of that amount, $62,500 will be paid to Ms. Maniates and $52,477 to her attorney. The difference is interest compounded on an original amount that was being appealed by the district.
– Heard that the district’s attendance rate is about 94%, some two percent better than a year ago.
– Approved hiring of Tiffany Lagant as a high school language arts teacher.
– Learned from Supt. Horton that the Crawfordsville board position remains open. If no one from that area seeks the seat, the board can appoint someone at large.
– Appointed Joe Graville to the Budget Committee and learned that openings remain for Liberty #2, At-large #7 and At-large #8.
– Elected Scott Proctor as board vice-chair to fill position vacated by the death of Lee Babcock.
– Learned that the District enrollment is up 46 from a year ago at 2,459.
– Directed Supt. Horton to research the possibility of reducing the size of the board from nine members to seven or even five. The final decision would probably need to be put before voters, Supt. Horton said.
– Will send congratulatory notes to Robert and Jeff Rice for their outstanding implementation of the “Make A Difference Day.” The district-wide food drive resulted in more than 8,000 pounds of food for needy families.
– Approved a tentative contract with teachers calling for a 2.5% increase in salary, an insurance “opt-out” option and a $485 per month insurance cap with a one-time adjustment of approximately $30 per month rebated from the OSBA trust fund.