The Fayette

County Board of Education will consider a proposal from the Transportation

Task Force to rethink locating neighborhood bus stops at subdivision entrances,

especially when they open directly onto a "trunk route" or main

arterial road.

The issue of

subdivision bus stops was the top priority of the task force when it gathered

Aug. 28 for its first meeting. The School Board met for a called meeting

Tuesday to hear their progress.

On Wednesday,

they'll meet for a second time to find solutions to the two remaining

issues deemed most urgent: Elementary children walking too far to the

bus stop or school, and children being forced to walk more than .5 miles.

Melinda Berry-Dreisbach,

public information officer for the district, gave the update on action

Tuesday regarding bus stop safety.

Bill Bonnett,

director of transportation for the state Department of Education, answered

committee members questions about what, exactly, constitutes a safe bus

stop.

The state laws

are simple and straightforward, Bonnett explained. Applied to most of

Fayette County's bus stops, they meet the test.

Realizing that,

the task force came up with four ideas for dealing with the issue:

·If it

is a safe bus stop, make no change.

·Turn

into subdivisions and make one stop, but explain to parents that this

adds 5 minutes of route time for each stop.

· Encourage

parents and guardians to take charge of the situation in their neighborhoods,

rotating as bus stop monitors and working together to reduce traffic congestion.

·Form

a committee to hear complaints and appeals of Transportation Department

denials, being proactive and solving issues before they have to go to

the board.

The 11 citizen

members of the committee were handpicked after meeting an Aug. 25 application

deadline. That was announced at an Aug. 18 board meeting attended by 250

angry parents.

Bonnett assured

the task force that what Fayette County was experiencing was not unique

or new.

"In every

community that has lots of growth, we've seen this change take place and

it always flies up in the district's face," he said. "As you

build more schools closer to more houses, it's not going to make sense

financially to bus children such short distances."

Bonnett ran

the transportation department in Gwinnett County when it had less than

50,000 students, he said. Today, the state's largest district has nearly

130,000 students but the number of school buses on Gwinnett's roads hasn't

grown proportionately.

That's because

Gwinnett employs a number of techniques, including staggered start times,

to get maximum use out of its buses.

Federal and

state law mandates that "county" school systems provide transportation

to anyone living 1.5 miles or more from a school, Bonnett confirmed. City

school districts, however, are exempt.

"Believe

me, you are in very good shape in Fayette County," he said, telling

the task force that the average age of a school bus in Georgia is above

10 years, while Fayette's fleet averaged just slightly over 5 years old.

Bringing the

point closer to the issues at hand, he illustrated for the panel why transportation

funding is so crucial: Of the 181 buses Fayette owns, the state pays to

operate barely half of them. County taxpayers make up the rest.

Task Force

member Clarence Leathers wanted to know if additional funding sources,

such as a local option sales tax on schools, could be used to finance

the luxury bus service. School system finance director James Stephens

said it could, as long as the issue was spelled out clearly on the ballot

when voters went to the polls.

But he dismissed

suggestions that those who want bus stops closer to home pay a user fee,

while others may choose to go without. "We are charged by law of

the state of Georgia to provide a free education to every child who wants

it, and that includes bus service," he said.

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