Valerie Parnell, Seminole County Watch columnist

This was a decision I wanted to feel good about.  The news was welcome, and with it came relief.  Yet in short time, they had done it again.  Even when news of their actions is welcome and met with approval, the Seminole County School Board finds a way to add tarnish to the edges and remove glitter from the gold.

Last Friday, the Seminole County Public Schools Safety Advisory Committee voted 4-3 to retain courtesy busing for students at Evans Elementary.  The news represented a victory for parents at the school, located on Chapman Road in Oviedo, just east of State Road 434, also known as Alafaya Trail.

The issue concerned children, ages five- to ten-years old, walking several miles along six-lane State Road 434 to and from school each morning and afternoon.  Parents had defeated previous consideration to cancelling the busing this past November, and found themselves fighting the same battle only five months later.

When the committee voted on Friday to retain the busing, I wanted to feel joy and happiness, and, for a moment, I did.  But then the questions started to come, without answers.  Although we knew the busing would be retained, that was all we knew, and the School Board was not filling in the blanks.

What were the ramifications of the committee's decision, and what were the parameters to be applied to this issue in the future?

In the wake of the committee's decision, Seminole County Watch reported the following this past Monday:

"The School Safety Advisory Committee has stated as part of the Evans Elementary busing issue that we would again re-visit in October 2005 for discussion after we've addressed some of the safety concerns voiced by the community," said Ken Lewis, Director of Transportation Services for the Seminole County School District.

Among the safety concerns he cited were signage and sidewalks along the path to be walked by the students.

"As the requirements and demands for the busing of students increase, opportunities for re-evaluation of students currently bused who are deemed ineligible according to current standards will most assuredly present itself," said Lewis.

The implication was that the busing would be reviewed in October, leaving open the question of whether it would continue beyond that point.

On Tuesday, Lewis issued a clarification of his position.  As Seminole County Watch reported:

Ken Lewis, Director of Transportation Services for the Seminole County School District, issued a clarification today of his original statement concerning continuation of courtesy busing at Evans Elementary School in Oviedo.

"The busing will continue through the 2005-06 school year." said Lewis.  "When we bring the issue to the table again in October of 2005, it will be to evaluate whether or not the School Safety Advisory Committee was able to remedy some of the safety concerns voiced by the parents."

Lewis went out of his way to preface the latter comments as "clarification," yet it is difficult to see what he was clarifying.  In fact, his clarification only made the matter more confusing. 

His statement that the busing would continue through the end of the school year did not address the ramifications of the October review. 

On one hand, the indications were that the October review would be similar to the ones of last November and last week, threatening cancellation of the busing.

On the other hand, Lewis' clarification focused the October review as being concerned solely with whether safety concerns had been remedied, ignoring the question of what happens thereafter.  Not to mention whose judgment would be used in determining what "remedy" means in relation to the parents' safety concerns.

Obviously, if the concerns have been alleviated to the School District's satisfaction, consideration would be given to cancelling the busing.  Equally obvious, based on two Safety Committee reviews within the past five months, is that even if the concerns have not been remedied to the parents' satisfaction, the School District might again consider cancelling the busing.

The 4-3 margin of the parents' victory last Friday was not reassuring, especially since nothing had changed within the past five months to make State Road 434 any safer, other than construction zones giving way to vehicles traveling at speeds often in excess of the posted limits of 50 miles per hour.

One vote in the other direction and parents of the 380 affected youngsters at Evans Elementary would be in quite a lather right now, feeling tension, anxiety and stress rather than relief.  One vote made the difference. 

School Board members Diane Bauer and Barry Gainer added to the subsequent confusion by telling constituents that the busing would continue only until October, although Transportation Director Lewis had been saying otherwise.

Bauer even alluded to it during Tuesday afternoon's School Board meeting, at which Lewis later spoke, finally ensuring the Board fully understood the busing would continue through the next school year.

All of this brought us back to the question of what happens in October.  Today, Ken Lewis provided the answer.

"The decision of the School Safety Advisory Committee was that busing would continue through school year 2005-06. No stipulation was made for subsequent years," Lewis said. 

"The October review is to discuss whether or not the committee was able to resolve the safety concerns voiced by the parents. The understanding is that if progress is being made in resolving the safety concerns voiced by the parents, adequately providing for the safety of the children, the consideration of busing will again be discussed by the committee.

"I would suspect that discussion may well take place during the October meeting. I cannot flatly state that busing will continue beyond the 2005-06 school year nor when that decision, if at all, will be made. Those items are not unilateral and rest with the full complement of the School Safety Advisory Committee."

So that brings us almost back to square one, if not quite.  As originally thought, before any "clarification," the October meeting might again decide whether elementary school students will be walking along State Road 434 to and from school.

The parents have scored a major concession with the extending of the busing through the 2005-06 school year, but their children are just as threatened as they have ever been.  While news of the busing being continued brought momentary joy, that happiness immediately gave way to concern for the future.

It is hoped the parents will not sit back and wait until October to once again concern themselves with this battle.  It needs to be fought now.  The School Board has already deflected blame for the lack of funding for courtesy busing onto the state legislature, and it is the state legislature that also established the two-mile minimum distance for mandatory busing.

Whether intentionally or not, the School Board is already laying the groundwork to justify cancelling the busing.  Unfortunately, with the established pattern of behavior for this School Board and its members, it is quite logical to assume they are now getting their ducks in a row.

And that is exactly what the parents need to be doing.  They need to act now, rather than in October, when it may be too late.  Parents need to take the energy they brought to the last two Safety Committee reviews and start applying it to their state legislators in both the Florida Senate and House.

They need to find allies there to address the issues of funding for courtesy busing and the two-mile minimum for mandatory busing. 

It is no longer merely a matter of distance in determining whether children should be bused.  It is now a matter of safety as well, as children no longer walk only through their neighborhoods to get to school.  A two-mile walk through a subdivision is much different than a two-mile walk along a six-lane state road, and legislation should include such a distinction.

The road to success will be a long one for the parents, especially with this legislative session winding down.  They need to get busy and get focused, so that laws are changed to meet the needs of the children. 

The rest of us need to help them, and to lend support wherever we can.  The responsibility does not lie just with the parents at Evans Elementary.

Contrary to our natural assumption, this does not involve just "their" children.  It involves all children, and we all need to take an active role in seeking a remedy.  Issues such as this are community issues entangled with societal responsibilites that we all must address.

So far the parents have been successful in keeping the busing, dodging two imminent threats.  They need to act now to preempt the next threat before it surfaces. 

If they fail to do so,  youngsters at Evans Elementary may soon find themselves dodging speeding cars each day simply to get to school and home again.

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