Jackson resident questions lack of bus stops in development

A new home, in a new development, all moved in, just in time for the new school year. The kids are excited about their new schools, the subjects they will study and the friendships they will find.

Last week the envelope arrives from the Jackson Board of Education, containing the children’s school bus information. It appears that since our development is not completed, ours and the other neighborhood children must walk three-quarters of a mile, laden with 30 pounds of books, in all weather, toward Leesville Road to meet the bus.

Surely there must have been some mistake. Perhaps the board didn’t realize the development was 95 percent complete, filled with new families of taxpayers with school-aged children.

So, I picked up the phone and called the transportation department. I was informed that the developer, Paramount Homes, had made the decision not to allow school buses through the development in its uncompleted state.

This prompted me to visit the sales office of the builder, where I was told that the transportation department had misinformed me; that it was at the transportation department’s discretion as to whether or not the buses would service all inhabited parts of the development.

I decided to try my luck with the Jackson School District. The person who fielded my call implied that the decision of where the buses were to go was theirs to make, and that they chose not to send the buses anywhere near the homes of these new Jackson taxpayers because of their concern for the safety of a bus load of children being driven past various pieces of heavy machinery.

In their infinite wisdom, they are effectively saying that it is safer for the children to walk past this machinery, some operated by skilled tradesmen and some operated by day laborers, than for them to be driven past it in an enclosed school bus. What about the safety of my 12-year-old daughter walking by herself past these day laborers who could essentially do whatever they wished, as they would probably never be seen or found the next day?

The township and the Board of Education owe the simple necessity of proper school bus service to its taxpayers. It shouldn’t be on us to shuttle our kids to the bus stop. If we all could do that, we may as well expect all the parents to drive the kids all the way to school.

This development is populated with commuters for whom this is not a possibility. And during this commute, and until the kids are home from school, I must wonder if they made it there and back safely.

Janice A. D’Anna

Jackson