Parents cite crime, traffic in plea for school busing

Lee Scrivner

Wednesday, June 28, 2000 | 9:41 a.m.

In what was dubbed by both sides as "a venting session," the Clark County School Board met Tuesday with parents who want to have buses continue to take their children to and from school.

Voices of frustration were raised on both sides as board members tried to reconcile parents' pleas for buses with budget realities.

Of primary focus were schools near busy thoroughfares. Parents of students zoned for Aggie Roberts Elementary and Crestwood Elementary schools complained that with the planned removal of certain bus routes, their children would be forced to walk streets choked with traffic and crime.

Roberts Elementary, 227 Charter Oak in Henderson, is near Windmill Avenue and Pecos Road. Crestwood, 1300 Pauline Way, is near Charleston Boulevard and Eastern Avenue.

"If this service is discontinued, our children's safety will be seriously compromised," said Earl White, a housing coordinator for RPS, a corporation that provides affordable housing.

Concerning White was the fate of about 50 third grade students attending Crestwood Elementary who will no longer be picked up by buses in front of the Fremont Villas Apartments, 121 N. 15th St.

"The distance from the Fremont Villas to Crestwood Elementary School is about one and one-tenth mile. However, we feel that walking even this short distance could bring peril to these children," White said, reading from a letter of concern by Metro Police Officer Peter J. Carlos.

"Metro responded to 3,000 calls to this area last year," White said. "There were nine reports of child molestation. And there is a rapist in that area."

The board made an exception to its two-mile busing limit for the Fremont Villas Apartments last year. But this year, due to lack of funding, the exception cannot be made, school officials say.

"I don't understand how it can be a priority one year and not the next year. (The crime) has not gone away," White said.

"I have looked at this from every angle for six years," board member Susan Brager responded. "We have considered extending the busing limit for our high school students to 2.5 miles so we could reduce the minimum busing distance for elementary students to maybe 1.5 miles.

"The funds have to come from somewhere."

Other school officials suggested parents lobby the 2001 Legislature for more money for busing.