School bus changes affect students’ safety

The school bus represents student safety and a commitment to educational equity. Last week, Pittsburgh Public Schools announced that it would not provide school buses for students attending the Environmental Charter School middle school in Garfield, relying instead on the Port Authority for transportation (June 5, “City Schools Change Some Bus Schedules, Class Times for 2019-20”). This means that children as young as 11, coming from 28 different zip codes, are now expected to ride public transportation to the school.

Many students’ commutes would be long and complex, requiring multiple buses each way. Some students’ homes are not convenient to a bus stop, and there is no Port Authority bus stop in front of the school. Our children will be denied the safety of crossing guards and flashing lights telling drivers to stop. Similar proposals have previously been made for other PPS and parochial schools and were deemed unsafe.

The Port Authority is already stressed. Can it handle the additional riders this change represents? Moreover, our school serves an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse slice of the community. By limiting children’s means of arriving at school, PPS is effectively limiting school choice for families without the means to provide alternative transportation or private tuition.

PPS made this decision without informing our school this was a possibility or seeking feedback from ECS families. PPS offers no evidence it considered how this would affect the safety of hundreds of children who are in their charge. It is no more appropriate for our school than it would be for any other middle school in the city.

We urge PPS to reconsider this plan and to work with its constituents and stakeholders to devise a path forward that prioritizes children’s safety.

ANNA FLOERKE SCHEID

Point Breeze