JACKSON SCHOOLS TRANSPORTATION ISSUE TABLED

JACKSON -- After hearing and making numerous presentations, the Jackson Board of Education Tuesday night put off for two weeks a decision regarding whether to reinstate a recently canceled transportation policy.

The school board in January approved new attendance-center boundaries to coincide with the opening of South Elementary School in the fall. Boundaries for North Elementary School at Fruitland and Gordonville and Millersville attendance areas will remain unchanged. However, some students who formerly would have lived in the Primary Annex, West Lane and Orchard attendance-center areas of Jackson will attend South Elementary.

With the redistricting boundaries, the board elected to discontinue its provision of transportation to and from day-care centers outside of a specific attendance area. The school district currently has a bus which transports students to day-care or home-care providers throughout the city. Under the new policy, the school district would continue to provide bus service for children who live in the same district as their day-care; however, students on opposite sides of new redistricting lines would have to find alternate transportation or new day-care services.

"We believe it's in all our best interests to pick up those youngsters and deliver them to the schools, then back to those centers in as much as we are able," said superintendent Dr. Howard Jones. "The question is, can we meet the demands of a system on a total parent-choice basis fairly and consistently?"

Some 20 parents attended the meeting to ask the board to reconsider its new policy. Parents, most of whom had children enrolled at the Tender Care Playhouse, said they weren't given viable alternative day-care choices. The board's decision will force many parents to make after-school arrangements they will be uncomfortable with but have no choice but to accept, they said.

"The choices that you have provided us are minimal," said Sandra Perry, who presented board members with a petition with 333 signatures requesting a change in the new policy. "It may look great on par, but in essence you have given us no choices."

Parents said the school district should continue to provide the service for its patrons, many of whom made their living arrangements based on the quality and cooperative nature of the school district. Other options mentioned included developing an after-school program within the district or providing a central depot from which students would be dispatched.

At the very least, the district should phase in the new policy to give everyone involved a period to adjust to the new transportation rules, they said.

Board member Tom Ludwig said he was concerned that providing a solution for larger day-care providers would still leave a dilemma for friends and family members living outside of redistricting lines who watched children. "We need an alternative that's good for everybody," he said. "This is something that has been a big concern of mine on this issue."

Jack Knowlan, who was elected president of the board earlier in the meeting, said everyone involved would have a different agenda. Parents were concerned with what was best for their children, while day-care providers were going to be concerned about the economic impact on their business, he said. The school board is most concerned with maintaining the best interests of the school district, he said.

Knowlan said he had not heard a proposal he felt would be workable by the beginning of the next school year. In the end, the best option might be for the district to keep the new policy in place and revisit it as better options came along, he said.

Said Knowlan: "The problem is we'd like to be predictable and give you eight to 10 years notice, but we can't even do that, because we might have to build another school in the next few years. There are limits on choice.