Despite the pleas of parents and community members, the Jordan Board of Education appears likely to vote down a proposal to fund all requests to bus schoolchildren walking along hazardous unfunded routes.
"It is our responsibility to educate students in Jordan School District, not to bus them," board member Peggy Jo Kennett said at Tuesday's meeting. "It's the parents' responsibility to get them to school."A special transportation task force has deemed hazardous 129 walking routes in Jordan School District. The routes are not funded for busing because of their proximity to schools. The task force looked at factors such as traffic, speed limits, the existence of railroad tracks and other hazards in determining a ranking for each of the 129 routes.
The school board's $1 million limit for unfunded busing will pay for 110 of those routes, leaving about 1,000 children who live along the other 19 unfunded routes to walk, carpool or ride with parents.
Several parents who spoke at the meeting said the busy streets in the area make it too dangerous for children to walk to school.
"In order for (my child) to get to school without the bus, he would have to cross 9400 South," said parent Cindy Nielsen. "I'm just worried somebody's going to get hurt."
Other parents told of areas between their home and their child's school where there is no sidewalk or curb, forcing children to walk on the pavement or on dirt mounds near the street. Board members encouraged parents to carpool and to talk to their city councils about getting sidewalks and other improvements to the routes to increase safety.
Jordan Board of Education President Jane Callister was one of two board members who supported the proposal to come up with the $150,000 that would fund the remaining 19 unfunded bus routes. She suggested several ways to find the money, including dipping into a transportation emergency fund and using money the district set aside to buy another bus. She said this would effectively leave the district without any emergency funding.
"If a bus breaks down, we have nowhere to turn," she said. "I think this is so important, I'm willing to take that chance."
Board members Kennett, Arlen Ekberg and Ellen Wallace indicated they would vote against the proposal, with Callister and Ralph Haws saying they would support it. The board will vote on the proposal on April 28.