Vowing they

"won't give up" until their complaints are heard, about 50 parents

upset with changes in the county's school bus routes gathered at The Estates

clubhouse Wednesday night to compare notes and coordinate their next move.

The fight may

be short-lived, as more reports of compromises and restored stops began

to trickle in. Though no one representing the school system was present

at the meeting, several who spoke reported having positive dealings with

county office employees about the matter, even if it hadn't been cleared

up to their liking.

Melinda Berry-Dreisbach,

school district spokesperson, said Thursday afternoon that nothing had

changed as far as the administration's approach to dealing with the complaints,

which were being handled on a case-by-case basis.

At least a

handful of families from The Estates said they were told by a school district

employee that a bus would begin picking up the kids who lived in the streets

and cul-de-sacs furthest from the entrance starting Monday.

That presents

a potentially awkward scenario, some parents argued: A bus driving through

the neighborhood past kids who were walking to school, just to pick up

children who lived a little further away. "We all pay the same taxes,

we should get the same service," was the cry.

"Their

concern is correcting errors in the one-mile rule," explained Joe

Mendola, an Estates resident and one of the meeting's organizers. He admitted

finding out prior to the meeting that his house lies beyond the one-mile

cutoff and will be served by the new bus stops on Monday.

The Estates

is adjacent to Braelinn Elementary on Robinson Road, and many homeowners

say they moved to the area specifically to get their children into the

highly-ranked school. But because the two main entrances to the subdivision

on Robinson Road are within .4 mile of the school, bus service to the

students there was dropped altogether.

In June, the

School Board amended the policy on the minimum distance a child should

have to travel from home to school or bus stop from .3 mile to .5 mile.That

distance of two-tenths, coupled with other measures like leasing buses

instead of purchasing new ones, is allegedly saving the school district

more than $1 million a year.

To the parents

present at the meeting, cost wasn't the issue: It was safety. And asking

young children to use the cart path system to get to school daily isn't

acceptable, parents say, because of the dangers from the electric-powered

vehicles.

"This

is a a safety issue, pure and simple," said Peachtree City Councilman

Steve Rapson, who attended the meeting and urged the parents to follow

proper channels and stay focused on that issue. Though school district

issues are out of the city's hands, he said, the city does fund the crossing

guards and has jurisdiction over student safety.

Mayor Steve

Brown posed the issue a different way: "If you ask, 'Is the path

system safe for elementary school children walking in the dark wee hours

of the morning?' my answer would be that I would not allow my children

to do it."

Brown suggested

the school district made some "large communication gaps" in

getting out the word about the change. Chief among them was waiting untiil

the week before school started to send out letters about the new policy,

letters which went to the wrong addresses or never arrived at all.

Another issue

of concern to the parents and the city, Brown said, was overcrowding at

bus stops. With several stops consolidated into one central pick-up spot,

many kids are gathering at key intersections, and some buses particularly

on the middle school pickup cycle are dangerously overcrowded, parents

allege.

Brown said

the city occasionally will monitor bus stop activity at the request of

a parent, but generally doesn't have the manpower to do so. He discouraged

parents threatening lawsuits against the school district to reclaim bus

service.

"Give

the Board of Education the opportunity to fix things in a timely fashion,"

Brown said.

The regular

monthly School Board meeting scheduled for Monday night may provide the

first step toward reconciliation. Several residents present Wednesday

said they had already called about getting on the agenda, and school system

personnel are preparing for a large crowd of angry parents.

"They're

working on it," said Mendola. "Things need to be done in the

proper channels."

Monday's meeting

is at 7 p.m. at School Board offices on Stonewall Avenue in Fayetteville.