Having heard your complaints, the Fayette County School

Board now wants to hear your solutions.

But step on it.

A task force charged with finding answers to the most

difficult issues surrounding cutbacks in school bus routes this year will

be drawn together at lightning speed, it was announced at Monday's board

meeting.

Among the first challenges: How to restore transportation

to all of the district's elementary school students, including neighborhoods

that were completely cut off by the ".5 mile" rule.

Then, according to school officials, the panel will turn

its focus to next year, reviewing current administrative regulations on

transportation to see what adjustments can be made for the future.

The deadline for submitting a letter of interest to the

school system is 4:30 p.m. Monday, said Melinda Berry-Dreisbach, public

information specialist.

Ten people representing a cross-section of the county

will be chosen, joined by five school district staff yet to be named but

likely including Superintendent John DeCotis and staff from the transportation

department.

Though DeCotis gave no time frame for the group's first

meeting or a deadline for finding solutions, he suggested Monday night

that his staff would continue to move as swiftly as possible to address

every issue brought to their attention.

The evidence supports that, at least in regard to the

plight of one mother who addressed the board Monday night.

Thessia Benson moved her two children, one elementary

age and the other in middle school, from Riverdale to Fayetteville, even

though it meant a longer commute to her job on the north side of Atlanta.

"I wanted them to get a better education, and I

wanted to know they would be safe" when she left early in the morning

for work. But she said her hopes were shattered when she discovered through

a simple search on the Internet that a convicted child molester, required

her children were told to wait for the bus.

Moans, groans and jeers went up from 200-plus parents

at Monday's meeting. On the platform, board members reacted with raised

eyebrows, sideways glances or deeper frowns. But nobody spoke.

Tuesday morning, less than 12 hours later, parents at

that bus stop were handed a memo from transportation staff and told the

morning's pickup would be the last.

In the afternoon, the bus operator drove right past the

home were the convicted sex offender allegedly lives, and instead dropped

off her charges in the cul-de-sac of tthe street less than half a mile

long.

Parents were elated, though one who lives about midway

down the street was still trying to convince the bus driver to stop as

she passed her house, instead of making her three children walk to the

far end.

Knowing the bus driver, said the mother as she drove

off in her minivan, common sense will eventually prevail.

How to apply

Letters of application expressing interest and qualifications for appointment

to the "Transportation Task Force" will be accepted until 4:30

p.m. Monday at the Fayette County School Board administrative offices,

210 Stonewall Avenue West, P.O.Box 879, Fayetteville. For more information,

call the superintendent's office at 770-460-3535.

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