‘Safety Busing’ May End At Ramsey Increase Of Sidewalks Changes Need To Transport Students

To the dismay of some parents, Ramsey Elementary may lose its status as the Coeur d’Alene school to which the most children are bused.

The state Department of Education won’t pay for transportation of children who live within a mile and a half of school, except where walking is hazardous. Ramsey has had so-called “safety busing” because there have been few sidewalks in its north-side neighborhood.

That’s changing. As the area has developed, more sidewalks have been built.

So the Coeur d’Alene school district is obliged to reconsider the fact that it buses 75 percent of the students who attend the school near Kathleen Avenue and Ramsey Road.

Laura Fowler lives only a quarter-mile from the school, but doesn’t want her first-grade daughter walking. Ramsey Road is especially dangerous, she said.

“The sidewalks there have not been shoveled since the snow hit. And there are no houses facing the road that children could get help from,” Fowler said.

Police have written 491 traffic citations and 1,187 warnings on Ramsey Road in the last two years, Fowler said. She’s also concerned that the speed limit there may be raised from 35 to 45 miles per hour.

Transportation is certain to continue for some Ramsey students, said school principal Ann Walker. Included are those who live in the large, hilly area known as Pinegrove Park, where there are no sidewalks.

It would probably be spring before any bus routes were dropped, Walker said.

About 50 parents attended a Tuesday evening meeting to discuss the potential change. Everyone who spoke wanted busing to continue, said school district transportation director Carol Brown.

A committee looking into the matter will present its findings at Monday’s school board meeting. The board will make recommendations to the Department of Education.

Department officials will review any recommended exemptions to the mile-and-a-half rule, Brown said. If they don’t agree that safety busing is needed, the school district can continue the transportation only by taking money out of its other programs.

, DataTimes