Deptford schools rescind ‘subscription busing’ plan that would have charged students $365 annually

The Deptford Township School District announced Monday it was rescinding its plan to drastically cut the number of students eligible for free bus service for the school year that starts next month.

The initial notice of the plan last week by Superintendent Kevin Kanauss that required some parents to pay a $365 annual fee for transportation touched off a firestorm over the weekend in the South Jersey community from parents and township officials.

The decision to reverse the busing cuts “was definitely the right decision for the safety of the kids and drivers,” said Colleen Crawford, a mother of three school-age children. “If it was one kid who wasn’t safe, it was one too many.”

In a letter to parents, Kanauss said the school board’s transportation committee met with the school administration Monday, and decided to rescind the new policy that would have affected about 1,000 students. A reason for the decision was not given. Courtesy busing will be provided for all students who received it in the past, he said.

“We will further analyze the budget and transportation concerns, with the goal of ensuring a safe, adequate and efficient transportation system within the demands of the overall budget,” Kanauss wrote.

Before it was retracted, Mayor Paul Medany had said the township’s council and police department were not notified about the school district’s plan to reduce free bus services. Both said they had safety concerns about students walking to school on busy streets and sent a letter Monday asking Kanauss to rescind the move.

“We were blindsided like everyone else,” Medany said in an interview Monday.

» READ MORE: Deptford schools change bell schedule again to try to fix school busing crisis

With the school year starting in a few weeks, some parents said the busing fee would pose a financial hardship. Others said it would be difficult to drop off or pick up their children because of their work schedules.

In a Friday letter to parents, Kanauss had said the district would no longer offer free busing to students who live less than 2 miles from their assigned elementary or middle school or 2.5 miles from Deptford High School.

Under state law, public school districts are required only to provide free, round-trip transportation to eligible students who live more than 2 or 2.5 miles from their respective schools, according to the New Jersey School Boards Association.

Kanauss said the district would still need to be mindful of the number of neighborhood bus stops and may increase the number, which would make bus rides longer. The changes don’t impact students receiving special education services.

In the place of the courtesy busing, Kanauss had said the district would offer subscription busing for $365 annually for students. A student who missed riding the bus three times would forfeit the seat to another student on the wait list, he said.

The superintendent said the changes were needed as a cost-saving measure. The plan would have saved about $1.65 million, he said. Transportation costs about $735 a year per student, he said.

Kanauss, who initially said township officials were consulted, issued a second letter over the weekend saying they were not included in the decision.

A growing number of districts have shifted to subscription busing, including Pennsville in Salem County. In North Jersey, Montclair schools charge $1,395 per student (with a family cap of $2,790) and provide free subscription busing to students eligible for free/reduced lunch.

For years, Deptford, like many districts, provided free courtesy busing for students who live outside the statutory mandated radius, costing about $1.36 million. Kanauss had noted the state doesn’t reimburse for those costs.

» READ MORE: The Deptford school bus crisis is ‘the worst,’ leaving kids late, missing school, or even stranded, parents say

Medany said the district, which enrolls about 4,000 students, should have consulted with engineering and traffic experts. Parents should have been notified earlier, too, he said.

“This plan was poorly conceived,” the mayor said.

Medany said the 18-square-mile community has 540 local roads and six state highways traversed by 50,000 motorists daily. There are no sidewalks in neighborhoods near the middle schools and high schools, he said.

“Deptford is not a walking district,” Medany said.

A petition started by parent Jerome Pitts called for the district to implement free busing for all students. It quickly garnered nearly 1,000 signatures. Parents were planning to pack a school board meeting on Aug. 20 to address the busing issue.

“Like many families in our community, dropping and picking up my kids from school each day proved a logistical challenge,” wrote Pitts, a father of two. “The cost of school bussing, which should be a right, not a privilege, adds a significant financial burden to many families like mine.”

At the beginning of the 2022-23 school year, Deptford had another transportation crisis caused by a severe bus driver shortage that left some students missing school or stranded when their bus failed to show up. The district reconfigured routes and changed school start times to try to fix the problem.