For some elementary school children, their new route to school will entail crossing treacherous service roads by the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) and other dangerous intersections without the use of crossing guards.
That’s because the Department of Education (DOE) has eliminated the bus service for students living in the Big Six Apartment Complex in Woodside. Concerned parents and families gathered together at the intersection of Laurel Hill Boulevard and 61st Street on Tuesday, September 7 along with Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer and Congressmember Joseph Crowley to speak out against the elimination of a critical bus service for elementary school children at P.S. 229, located south of the BQE on 51st Road.
“Nothing has happened in the past due to the bus service,” said Teresa Odonell, the parent coordinator at P.S. 229. “It is a very dangerous crossing and many parents are outraged.”
In the past the DOE granted these students a bus variance due to the hazardous intersections that the children must cross during their walk from the Big Six to the school. This year, students and parents were surprised to find out that the bus service would be eliminated for any child who is eight or older. Although, the service will continue to be available for students who are in grades K-2.
“The Department of Education cannot balance their budget by risking the safety of our school children,” Van Bramer said. “The negligence of the DOE in ignoring the danger that exists for the children who will be forced to navigate these dangerous crossways once the critical bus service is eliminated is simply unacceptable. The money they plan to save cannot be worth the cost of risking a child’s life.”
The DOE proposed repainting crosswalks and adjusting signal changes to alleviate the safety risks. But Van Bramer and Crowley said their proposals are just band-aid fixes. They said the walking routes for these children are unsafe and inappropriate.
“Leaving children to navigate dangerous roads to and from school is simply unacceptable,” Crowley said. “This is why we are calling on the Department of Education to reinstate the bus variance for Big Six Towers and provide kids with a safe passage to school once again. I thank Councilman Van Bramer for shedding light on this issue and pledge to work with him until Big Six Towers’ families can be assured that the safety of their children will no longer be left to chance.”
Assemblymember Margaret Markey has also strongly objected to a City Department of Education decision to deny continuing school bus service to children living in Woodside’s Big Six Towers.
“It is wrong to cancel service that has been in place for more than a decade and force third-through-sixth graders to cross a dangerous intersection to get to P.S. 229, nearly a mile away,” said Markey. “They must cross 10 lanes of busy service roadways, face busy traffic coming from several different directions directed by short-timed lights, and travel along a very narrow walkway underneath the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. These children deserve the protection they have been receiving up to now.”
Local parents and elected officials are planning to take the DOE’s decision to the courts.
“They cannot put a price on my child’s safety, it is absolutely outrageous,” said Michelle Kates, a worried parent. “The bus is still operating for other children and it makes me sick to think it all comes down to money!”
