Parents Get Bus to Pick Up Kids for School

Kids who had to walk more than a mile to school will now ride the bus.

Walking to school is now a thing of the past for middle school students in one in Newington neighborhood.  Parents demanded and received a school bus for their children.

"Your TV station, I think, is what did it," said parent Bob Rybcyzk.  "I think that's what more or less did it and then the combination of the parents."

A few weeks ago Rybcyzk told the Troubleshooters how his nine-year-old daughter would have to walk more than a mile to Martin Kellogg Middle School with no sidewalks along part of the route.

The family home is one point one miles from school.  Newington Public Schools would only pick up middle school students who live more than one-and-a-quarter miles away.

Rybcyzk's neighbors said they've been arguing for a bus for years with no luck, with the distance to school and the lack of neighborhood sidewalks being their major concerns.

"I don't think one parent in this neighborhood had let the kids walk," grandparent Karen Terase said.

Terase arranged for car pools for her granddaughter up until this week.

"We're very happy they're getting bussed now," Terase said.

Superintendent Dr. William Collins said he'd been dealing with parents directly about the situation.  He sent letters to neighborhood parents informing them a bus would now be available.  Collins letter said he was granting an exception and that students' safety is the number one priority.

A bus is being re-routed to allow the pick-ups along Connecticut Avenue.  Collins said this has created an additional expense for taxpayers, although he could not say how much.

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