‘Routine’ Busing Snarls

Raise Road Safety Concerns

By Larissa Lytwyn

The school year has begun, and while concerns have been expressed regarding later-than-preferred afternoon drop-offs and route safety issues, Transportation Director Anthony DiLonardo assured the school board at its September 7 meeting that the bus system’s problems are not uncommon for the beginning of the school year.

Many third-tiered students dropped off from Head O’ Meadow and Middle Gate elementary schools, which dismiss students at 3:22 pm, have been arriving home at approximately 4:30 pm.

“I would like to see the kids home between 4:10 and 4:20 pm,” Mr DiLonardo said.

Some rerouting and reconfiguring will be completed, he promised, by September 21.

In a letter addressed to Board of Education Chairman Elaine McClure, David and Maura Fletcher of Deep Brook Road asserted, “The transportation office, along with certain owner/operator bus drivers, have determined not to drive down [the] road [because] it is a dirt road.”

Mr DiLonardo, however, said that certain roads, including Deep Brook, were inadequate for safe full-size or even minibus passage because of the road’s hazardous conditions.

Deep Brook is a dirt road frequently used as a horse trail. Further, Deep Brook residents are committed to preserving their street’s rustic character.

Mr DiLonardo discussed how he had accompanied the Fletchers’ bus driver down Deep Brook and around Point O’ Rocks Road in both a full- and half-size bus.

“Deep Brook is simply not safe,” Mr DiLonardo said, “and my priority, above all, is the safety of the children.”

Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff and Business Director Ron Bienkowski shared Mr DiLonardo’s conclusion.

He said that it was impossible for even minibuses to turn on the road.

Ms Fletcher, however, said that their bus driver, before this year, had always turned around at a “barn” on Deep Brook.

The board’s attorney, said Ms McClure, had said that regardless of how long the bus had traveled down Deep Brook in the past, it had been determined unsafe and thus did not require bus passage.

Mr Fletcher suggested that his children’s safety was more compromised by potentially walking to the corner of Hawley Road and Elm Drive, where the bus currently stops, than if any vehicle picked them up directly.

“It is more safe to drive than to walk,” Mr Fletcher said, citing three blind spots on the road.

In his letter to Ms McClure, Mr Fletcher wrote, “The stop is over a half mile down a windy, narrow road.”

The current bus stop, he argued, is “at a busy intersection where people loiter in the afternoon because of its proximity to the bridge, duck pond, and cemetery.”

Further, he was worried that no other children were at the current stop. “Therefore, there are no other parents to call in case of an emergency,” Mr Fletcher wrote.

He said that his family first settled in the home four years ago.

The home’s two prior owners, he continued, both had children and were serviced by a bus and van that picked them up directly in front of their homes.

“It is not practical to think they can be dropped off and picked up every day,” he wrote. “I am sure there are several solutions to this problem. If the transportation department is truly concerned about the welfare and safety of the children they should be willing to work towards a solution and not just arbitrarily eliminate a service that has been provided for years.”

Board member Paul Mangiafico suggested that the Board of Education write a letter to First Selectman Herb Rosenthal on improving Deep Brook, and similar roads in town, for passage.

Mr DiLonardo said that the town had been “excellent” about clearing brush and removing debris from bus routes over the summer.

 Board member Tom Gissen acknowledged that many roads in Newtown are incredibly difficult to transverse.

“This is an old town,” he said. “These same roads would not be built today.”

Mr Fletcher said that his family’s concern about their bus stop was not a black-or-white problem.

“It’s a very gray issue,” he said, “and I just want to sit down with someone and find some solutions.”