Transportation changes worry some parents

By Paul Sloth
Journal Times

Wednesday, August 20, 2008 9:05 PM CDT

RACINE — Scott McDonald doesn’t want his daughter to have to walk the four or five blocks from the babysitter’s house to her bus stop.

McDonald isn’t happy with the changes Racine Unified School District transportation officials are making for the upcoming school year.

With the district’s switch to straightline busing — putting bus stops on main streets in an effort to cut costs — the McDonald’s 7-year-old daughter will have to walk to a bus stop. They’re still not sure where.

He told the School Board on Monday that he believes the walk will endanger his daughter because 14 registered sex offenders live nearby.

“We understand the district’s need to try and save money and looking at transportation is one way to save,” McDonald said. “However, when the safety of our children is jeopardized this way, straightline busing clearly is not a doable option.”

Last year, the school bus picked up McDonald’s daughter outside of her babysitter’s house and took her to school at Fine Arts Elementary.

The McDonalds are one of several, mostly private and magnet school families, whose children were picked up outside their homes.

“We rely on Racine Unified to provide safe transportation for our daughter,” McDonald said.

Whether they attend Unified School Board meetings to voice their concerns, like McDonald, parents are calling the district to make requests that transportation officials consider unrealistic.

“Safe to me might not be safe to you. If you have really protective parents they’re going to say ‘walking across the street from my house is unsafe,’” said Pat Starken, Unified’s transportation director.

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