Parents angered at loss of bus service

Kaylene Iltz doesn’t feel good about sending her two children, ages 5 and 6, out the door to walk to Sunrise Elementary School on east 24th Avenue.

“I won’t do it,” Iltz said. “You can get in a whole lot of trouble in nine-tenths of a mile.”

Last year, Iltz’s children could catch a bus right out the front door of their home in the Evergreen Point subdivision near 32nd Avenue and Evergreen Road, but because of growth within the school’s boundaries the stop was eliminated this year.

Two days before school started parents received a letter that said there would no longer be stops west of Sullivan Road for students in Sunrise’s attendance area.

“A lot of us are very upset,” said Jenni Voelker, another parent. “A lot of us were left scrambling with how to get our children to school.”

About 49 students who live in the area west of Sullivan between 32nd and 24th avenues are eligible to take the bus, said Jeff Hanley, Central Valley School District transportation supervisor.

But because of growth at the southeast end of the school’s boundaries the district had to eliminate five stops from the two buses that serve that area.

“Both buses are full, and one of those buses is overloaded,” Hanley said. “What we’re trying to do is balance out some loads, for the safety of the kids.”

Each bus holds from 65 to 72 children, three to a seat he said.

The school board’s policy on transportation states that any student in grades K-5 living beyond a half-mile radius from the school is eligible for transportation. Students in grades 6-12 must live a radius mile from the school.

The confusion comes in the wording for how the bus stop placement is determined, Hanley said.

All bus stops are to be at least a radius mile from the school, the policy says.

“So the parents have to decide whether they want their kids to walk to school or to the stop. In some cases the school may be closer,” Hanley said. In the case of the Evergreen Point children, the nearest stop takes them past the school.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Voelker said.

School board members adopted a first reading of a revision to the policy Monday, which will clarify which children are eligible and where the stops will be. The policy has to go before the board one more time for final approval.

Also confusing for parents is the difference between a radius mile and a street mile, Hanley said.

“They might actually be walking over a mile, but our policy is a straight-line mile,” which would be over the tops of houses and trees, he said. “Our policy follows the state guidelines for radius miles. We don’t do it different than any other Washington state school district.”

Hanley said one stop was reinstated near Progress Road and 36th Avenue, after the district determined there were safety hazards along that road. The district can make exceptions to the mile rule when hazardous conditions or other special circumstances exist, Hanley said.

But the parents from the other four stops say their children’s safety is not being considered.

“We pay a lot of taxes in this area,” Iltz said. “I just feel like we’re not getting the services for those taxes.”

While Iltz chose to drive her children to school each day, Voelker’s children, 7 and 9, gather with a group of kids from the neighborhood to walk in a group.

The school agreed to give up one crossing guard to help the children in the neighborhood cross at 24th Avenue, Voelker said.

She said the parents in the neighborhood are talking about gathering signatures for a petition to present to the board.

“The whole neighborhood is very frustrated. We’ve basically been told there’s nothing we can do about it,” Voelker said. “We want our bus back.”