The Scarborough school bus safety committee moved one bus stop following its meeting on Thursday, but refused to move eight others.

The committee, which was formed in response to complaints regarding the district’s newly instituted bus stop policy, moved the Arbor View Lane/Portland Farms Road bus stop from that intersection to halfway down Arbor View Lane.

Arbor View Lane resident Gayla Underkoffler, along with several other parents, told the committee they felt the stop at Portland Farms Road was too busy and posed a danger to their children. The parents had requested three stops on the road, but were only granted one.

The safety committee consists of two residents (George Keim and Jacquelyn Perry), three school administrators (Wentworth Intermediate School Principal Anne-Mayre Dexter, Transportation Director Scott Macomber and Business Manager Herb Hopkins) and two bus drivers (Joe Aliberti and Sarah Redmon).

The committee only has the authority to review the bus stops based on safety issues and not parental convenience. The committee has about 20 more complaints to hear and will continue its work at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 15, at Wentworth Intermediate School.

Last week, the committee heard from two other parents who felt their new bus stops were dangerous.

Summerfield Lane resident Maureen Verreault said she lived just within the walking distance required by the school. She was concerned about her road’s safety during the winter, when the sidewalks are not maintained. She requested that the bus drive down Summerfield Lane rather than Serenity Drive. The committee elected not to change the stop because it was not the most direct route.

Paul Lawson of Berry Road also met with the committee asking that the bus travel down his road rather than picking up his child at the Berry Road/Beech Ridge Road intersection.

A portion of the road is a one-way and his child has to walk the opposite direction up the road. The road also is narrow, which is a safety concern. Finally, he said, the intersection is dangerous and there are no nearby homes to go to in case something happens.

The district has sent buses down Berry Road in the past, but the change at Berry Road is similar to the ones made on other small, country roads.

“There’s no reason for us to go down there,” said Transportation Director Scott Macomber.

This fall the district instituted a new bus policy requiring children in kindergarten through fifth grade to walk up to a quarter mile to the bus stop and children in grades 6 to 12 to walk up to a half-mile to a bus stop.

The new policy is designed to consolidate bus stops and create centralized locations, which is expected to save the district time and money. The Scarborough Police Department has reviewed the new stops and some locations have already been changed based on its recommendations, including moving some away from Route 1.

In hopes of reducing its workload, the committee granted Macomber and business director Herb Hopkins the authority to move bus stops as they feel necessary. If they do not change a specific stop, parents can appeal the decision to the committee.

During the committee’s meeting, it unanimously dismissed complaints by residents living on Fairway Drive, Old Colony Lane, Winding Way and Williamsburg Place, who were seeking to have the bus drive into their respective neighborhoods. The committee dismissed these concerns because all four are private roads.

“It’s unlawful to spend public funds for private purposes,” Macomber said. “We have been (driving down private roads) in the past and we shouldn’t have been doing it.”

The committee also made no changes to bus stops at Woodrock Lane/Black Point Road and Fowler Farms Road/Pleasant Hill Road, unanimously ruling that the stops are not dangerous, though parents had complained they were.

Hopkins said it is the parents’ responsibility to ensure that a child remains safe at the bus stop and they should keep children away from the main roads. The district cannot change a stop because parents can no longer see their children board a bus, he said.