Bus stop too far for student

A St. Thomas grandmother has been battling Tuscarora School District to change a bus stop for her 6-year-old grandson, who has documented respiratory problems.

The letters, school board visits and doctor's note have made little or no impact.

"For the past three days, I've been up every four hours giving him breathing treatments, just from getting him up and taking him out in the morning now," said Amy Kesselring. "He's been on disability from the day he was born. He already has respiratory issues or he wouldn't be on Social Security."

Kesselring is the guardian for her grandson, Mathan Riley, who is a first-grade student at St. Thomas Elementary. Mathan receives Social Security income, in part, due to his disabling physical condition.

His grandmother has requested the district maintain a bus stop that was in place during the 2011-12 school year, in front of Kesselring's home on Carlton Circle, St. Thomas Township. Instead, the district moved the bus stop back to the intersection of Carlton Circle and Coble Road to provide transportation to both Mathan and another student on Coble Road.

Kesselring is concerned Mathan could have an asthma attack during a walk to the bus stop, during which Mathan would be out of her line of sight.
Mathan receives a 20-minute nebulizer treatment daily, Kesselring said. As temperatures have cooled, Kesselring has maintained night-time treatments around the clock to keep Mathan healthy enough for school, she added.

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The first-grader did not miss a day of school last year.

District rules state that students can't carry medicine -- including inhalers -- throughout the school day. Any medication is kept at school with the school's nurse.

"If he'd have an asthma attack, what would I do," said Kesselring. "We wouldn't know because he'd be by himself. If he were with a group of children, like five or six, OK, but I just can't see a 6-year-old child walking this by himself.

"He could have an attack, be laying there and I wouldn't know."

So, Kesselring drives her grandson to the bus stop daily.

The district maintains that the .1 mile to the bus stop around a curve to Coble Road is well within in the state's 1-1/2 mile minimum for walks to a bus stop.

Superintendent Rebecca Erb said the district is continually trying to shorten bus runs to cut travel time.

"A couple things we have to continue to address is our elementary children bus runs first," said Erb. "The more stops we make, the earlier we have to start those bus runs. One of our goals is not having children waiting in the dark for the bus in winter months. It's less about money than it is about time. We want minimum riding time on buses."

Kesselring has asked the district to reconsider, and maintain a stop near Mathan's home. She's provided Social Security documents, a doctor's note and requested the district consider his condition under federal guidelines.

According to documents, the district also spoke to Mathan's doctor who indicated asthma symptoms get worse in adverse conditions.

Average bus routes are about 40 minutes and pick-ups start as early as 6:40 a.m., Transportation Director Christina Faith said.

The district does make exceptions for some students.

"We have special education vans where Individualized Education Plans require special arrangements for students with disabilities that impede their capacity to walk to the bus. Those are driven by IEPs -- typically with input from a medical doctor," said Faith.

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Brian Hall can be reached at 262-4811 and bkhall@publicopinionnews.com, or follow him on Twitter @bkhallpo.