TOPSHAM — The school board has pumped the brakes on plans to eliminate several elementary school bus stops in the Topsham-area Maine School Administrative District 75.
The district’s transportation committee had proposed changing bus routes and stops in order to align with district policy. That would have meant more elementary-age students walking to school or farther distances to bus stops along more heavily traveled roads.
Some parents protested, citing concerns about children’s safety.
The school board Thursday canceled an upcoming forum on the changes. Instead, it will discuss how to solve its transportation policy problems during a meeting Feb. 13.
Superintendent Shawn Chabot said in early January that the changes in routes were proposed after parents two years ago sought an exemption to the policy because they had been allowed for others.
“If we’re going to have a policy, in my mind, we should follow it,” he said. “If we’re not going to follow it or our practice is different than our policy, then we should change our policy.”
Under the proposal, kindergartners would be expected to walk up to about five-tenths of a mile to a bus stop, the same distance as other elementary students.
Under current policy, kindergartners have a maximum walk of up to about three-tenths of a mile.
Most of the changes affect bus routes in Topsham, where four of the districts seven schools are located.
According to Chabot, the board decided to take a step back and reconsider the process it wants to follow, he said.
“We know we have a problem,” he said. “How do we want to go about fixing the problem.”
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