Ridge Bus Dropoff at Cedar Hill Set to Continue

Although the Township Committee last Tuesday requested that Ridge High School buses stop dropping off students at Cedar Hill Elementary School via the streets of Homestead Village, the school's principal said on Friday that the bus route will continue.

School buses carrying students to Ridge High School stopped rolling through Homestead Village this week, a school vacation for all Bernards Township students, but can be expected to resume when school starts again next Monday.

An email sent out by Ridge principal Frank Howlett in the school district's most recent Friday Folder said, "The administration has decided to continue with this new procedure [of rerouting buses with Ridge students through the adjoining Cedar Hill School property] with continuous monitoring and adjusting."

"We have asked our neighbors in Homestead Village to endure buses traversing their neighborhood on their way to the dropoff point and they have communicated their concerns to us," Howlett said in the email. The new Ridge bus route to Cedar Hill's parking loop had started on Feb. 1.

Dozens of residents, including parents who said their children are endangered by the increase of buses and cars rushing along their streets to carry Ridge students to Cedar Hill, protested the new arrangement before the Board of Education on Monday night, Feb. 13, and then also approached the Township Committee the following night, last Tuesday.

The residents presented both with a petition against the new bus route, which is designed to relieve morning traffic backups at the main high school entrance at the traffic light along South Finley Avenue at Lake Road.

The Board of Education on Monday declined to overrule the school administration's decision to continue the new bus route on the basis that traffic had been reduced at the bottleneck of roads entering the high school, and also at the front of the school.

On Tuesday, after hearing the neighbors say that two children in Homestead Village, in two different instances, had almost been hit by cars carrying students to the high school, the Township Committee voted to "respectfully" ask the high school to discontinue the new dropoff procedure.

Howlett's email on Friday did not reference the Township Committee's request. However, the high school principal — in a plea similar to the one on the school district's website — asked parents to stop driving their Ridge students to school so they could reach RHS via a walkway from the Cedar Hill School parking loop.

"It is in the interest of being the best neighbor possible under these less than ideal conditions that I write to ask for your help," Howlett wrote in Friday's email.

"First and foremost, if your child is eligible to ride a bus, we ask that you have them do so. This will not only reduce traffic but is environmentally sound. It is my hope that the resulting reduced traffic will allow us to move pick-up times forward for buses in the future, making it more attractive to those who struggle in the morning. It is too early at this point to make that call and any change would probably not be implemented until next September," the principal's email said.

However, parents and School Board President Susan Carlsson last week pointed out that many of the parents who drive students to school live within less than a 2.5-mile radius of the high school, and are not eligible for free busing. Those parents would be charged an annual $690 per student in their households for busing, and many apparently opt to drive rather than pay the fee.

"If you drive your child to school, we ask that you not use Cedar Hill as a drop-off point," Howlett's email said.

Howlett said in the email that the new busing procedure has made the entrance to the school much more manageable and the parking dropoff area at the high school has become much safer.

"We need to provide as much relief to our neighbors as we can," Howlett said.

As he reportedly had said in an announcement to Ridge students earlier last week, Howlett said that dropping students off earlier at the high school also would be "very helpful."

"Many students gather in the cafeteria before 7 a.m. and socialize while enjoying a nutritious breakfast," he said.

The email also included a reminder that only preregistered high school seniors are allowed to park on the Ridge campus during school hours.

"As juniors obtain their licenses, they are inclined to attempt to occupy the 'visitors 'spots in front of the building. These 'visitors' spots are at a premium as we have many guidance conferences, which require parental attendance, everyday and all day," the email said.

Goal said to be achieved of alleviating morning traffic at Ridge

The email wrapped up, "In conclusion, I believe we have achieved our goal of alleviating morning traffic at RHS. I thank you in advance for considering and implementing my suggestions as well as considering our Homestead Village neighbors."

Howlett had previously said that he receives complaints from commuters who are caught in the morning's traffic into the high school.

But at last Tuesday's Township Committee meeting, Committeeman John Carpenter, a Ridge graduate and longtime residents, said that morning traffic backups had been a fact of life by high school entrance for as long as he could remember. His was among the unanimous vote by committee members to return the school buses to the main Ridge entrance while other options for traffic relief are examined. The Township Committee also offered the assistance of the township engineer to review the morning traffic flow in front of the high school.

The next school board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. next Monday, Feb. 27, at the William Annin Middle School, 70 Quincy Road.

The Friday Folder also included notification that those parents wishing to sign up for "subscription" or paid busing, for the 2012-13 school year must do so by March 26. The cost is $690 for bus service for a year for students in kindergarten through grade eight who live less than two miles from the school they will attend; and less than two and a half miles away from Ridge High School.