Brick private school parents demand safer bus routes, complain of unsafe walks

BRICK ― A group of private school parents urged Brick Township Public Schools officials to reconfigure transportation to Catholic and Christian schools, saying their children are forced to walk long, often dangerous routes along busy roads to reach their bus stops.

"It's unfair. It's unsafe," William Schunk of Acorn Drive told the Brick Board of Education during its monthly meeting on Thursday. "The way we've been treated is disrespectful."

Upcoming construction near his neighborhood will mean his children will be forced to walk nearly two miles down Brick Boulevard to get to their bus stop, Schunk said.

Their route has "no sidewalks. It's a road that has a median speed limit of 45 mph," he said. "That's unsafe. Who approved that? Who thought that was a great decision?"

Other parents shared similar concerns, citing dangerous walking conditions to bus stops, hour-long bus rides and children being marked absent from school due to buses running late.

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Superintendent Thomas Farrell said the private school students who live in Brick are being bused through "centralized" bus stops due to a severe bus driver shortage.

"Transportation is just a humongous nightmare (over) the past two years," Farrell said.

In July, a national survey of school administrators by the EdWeek Research Center found that 86% of administrators said they did not have enough bus driver applicants to fill their open positions. In addition, 79% of administrators said the problem was worse than the prior year, according to the survey.

The driver shortage has forced Brick to eliminate transportation for many after school activities and reduce the total number of routes, Farrell said.

"They brought the National Guard in as drivers in Massachusetts," the superintendent said. "This is not even a town, or state (issue), it's a nationwide problem right now."

New Jersey State Law requires districts provide transportation for public school students in kindergarten through eighth grade who live more than two miles from their schools. The law also requires busing for high school students who live more than 2.5 miles from their schools.

Private school students are also entitled to transportation, or aid in lieu of transportation up to $1,000 per child per year.

Last February, the New Jersey Catholic Conference ran an online petition urging New Jersey officials to raise the aid in lieu of transportation by $150, according to NJ.com. More than 1,900 people had signed the petition by early June, according to the Camden-based Catholic Star Herald. The Catholic Conference's petition website is no longer active.

In regards to busing private school students, "we are compliant (with state law)," Farrell said during Thursday's meeting. "We're meeting the statute."

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Yet private school parents are pressing school officials to change the current bus stops and routes.

"My kid has to walk a mile to get to Arrowhead Park, which normally wouldn't a problem, but there's absolutely no sidewalks, no crossing guards, nothing," said Erin Durkin, the mother of two private school students.

School board President Stephanie Wohlrab said there has been no easy solution to the busing problem, but that officials were open to suggestions.

"We've had many conversations. We really do care," she told the crowd gathered Thursday. "We have been trying."

Farrell said the district has raised starting pay for bus drivers to $24, and their income will continue to rise throughout their union contract. Business Administrator James Edwards Jr. said Brick school bus drivers are also given benefits on their starting day, rather than being forced to wait a probationary period, and receive 17 paid days off per year in addition to their 183 working days.

Despite the benefits, open driver positions remain.

"We haven't figured out a way to find a solution with some of the obstacles we're going through right now," Farrell said.

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Amanda Oglesby is an Ocean County native who covers Brick, Barnegat and Lacey townships as well as the environment. She has worked for the Press for more than a decade. Reach her at @OglesbyAPP, aoglesby@gannettnj.com or 732-557-5701.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Brick NJ private school parents demand safer bus routes