| Subject: Lowell Sun Article about Busing Costs |
Author:
Dennis
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Date Posted: 21:30:24 08/16/03 Sat
The following is from the Lowell Sun. It references Mr. Plummer's assertion that the School Committee's decision "will end up costing the town millions in the long run."
This is patent nonsense. My response to Mr. Plummer's analysis, a copy of which I was provided this last Tuesday, is posted next. (It is a letter to Mr. Plummer and the two boards.)
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Parents argue for private-school busing
By ROBERT MILLS, Sun Staff
DRACUT More than 100 parents are expected to attend Monday's School Committee meeting to argue for the reinstatement of private-school busing in town.
The committee voted to cut the service last month after learning in mid-June of a $262,000 cut to state transportation aid.
Parent Don Plummer say the cuts, which saved $48,000, will end up costing the town millions in the long run, as private-school students slowly return to public classrooms since they no longer have a way to get elsewhere.
Parents also say eliminating busing will create safety issues, as the move forces more cars onto the road and leaves many with no option but to carpool with other students, who are inexperienced drivers.
Parent Donna Lussier also questioned the fairness of the move, and the way it was made.
Since it was mid-June before the School Committee learned of a $262,000 cut to state transportation aid, which led to the elimination of the buses, the School Committee had to act quickly. After mentioning the impending cut at their June meeting, the committee voted on the measure in early July.
Lussier, who has muscular dystrophy and gets chemotherapy once a week, said the move leaves her stranded.
"A lot of people in town feel the private-school issue is basically for the rich, but it's not," Lussier said. "I'm a single mom and I've sacrificed just about everything to put my child into Central Catholic."
Lussier said her chemotherapy leaves her unable to take her 15-year-old daughter to school two or three days per week, and that without busing she is not sure what she will do.
She said she has taken an application for Dracut High School, and is also looking for someone to set up a carpool with.
Plummer and John Boss said the move is also hard to handle because it was made after many parents already made non-refundable deposits for their children to attend private or parochial schools this year.
Plummer said Dracut administrators have told him there are 832 children attending private or parochial schools in town. That's 17 percent of all students in town, compared to an average of 10.5 percent for the state as a whole.
Plummer believes Dracut's number will revert to the state average if the town eliminates busing. He credits the buses, which aren't offered in other nearby communities, for keeping that number high.
He said he hopes parents of public-school students will speak out, since an influx of private-school students would leave everyone's child in increasingly crowded public classrooms, even as the School Committee is already pushing for a new school.
The School Committee has said the cut was necessary since the transportation funds cannot be mixed with the rest of the budget, meaning the board had to make up for the $262,000 cut with a very small pool of money.
The Finance Subcommittee has been negotiating with the town's bus contractor, Laidlaw, to set up a system where private-school parents could pay a fee for continued busing. If those negotiations fail, it would cost private-school parents upwards of $400 to maintain the service.
The meeting will be held in the community room of the Lakeview Jr. High School at 7 p.m.
Robert Mills' e-mail address is rmills@lowellsun.com .
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