Exactly two weeks and a day

after putting out the call for volunteers to serve on its Transportation

Task Force, the Fayette County School Board will gather for its first

report on the committee's work in a called meeting next Tuesday night.

Monday was the deadline for

submitting an application to the task force. Deputy Superintendent Fred

Oliver was expected to name by midweek the committee's members, 10 residents

representing a cross-section of the county, and five school system personnel.

According to Melinda Berry-Dreisbach,

public information specialist for Fayette schools, if all goes as planned

the task force will have its first meeting before the week is out.

"This is a pressing issue,

and they want to address it as soon as possible," she said.

Plans for the task force were

outlined in a statement read by School Board Chairman Terri Smith at the

start of the Aug. 18 board meeting, attended by more than 200 parents

outraged at cutbacks in funding for school bus routes.

Exactly what type changes the

task force will be empowered to make remains to be determined. The most

pressing goal, said DeCotis last week, was to reconcile all issues of

safety and security.

Once those are settled, then

the department can turn its attention to filling gaps in service and reexamine

cancelled routes.

Still, some parents just want

common sense applied.

Peachtree City's Estates neighborhood

rallied in a big way when transportation was eliminated altogether, allegedly

because the neighborhood, next door to Braelinn Elementary, was within

a half mile of the school.

In fact, the furthest Robinson

Road access to the Estates is 0.4 mile from Braelinn, and the most distant

house in The Estates is 1.2 miles, residents claimed. The county's transportation

department agreed.

Now, when walking or driving

their children to school each day, Estates parents who live less than

a mile from the school put up with the sight of a county school bus chugging

past them to pick up neighbor kids who just happen to live beyond the

one-mile service line.

"And when the bus comes

back by us, it's half empty," said Lara Long, who with her husband,

Brian, helped organize the initial Estates response. Several residents

of The Estates applied for spots on the task force, she said.

Details were unavailable at

presstime, but readers can get regular updates on the transportation issue

Ordinarily, the school board

meets the third Monday of each month, reserving the first Monday for casual

work sessions. But when school business requires swifter action, the board

can vote itself into "Called Session."

A pressing matter awaits the

board Monday in addition to getting the task force up and running: Hiring

more teachers.

And quick approval is expected

for three job descriptions that were recently amended: Assistant Superintendent

of Operations, currently held by Wayne Robinson, and "Director of

Technology Services" and "Fixed Assets Specialist/Finance,"

open positions.

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