UPDATE: Residents Say They Will Ask Twp. Committee to Halt Ridge Buses

At least 40 to 50 residents of Homestead Village left Monday night's meeting after failing to persuade school administrators to reverse a trial run started Feb. 1 to reroute buses to along residential streets and into the back entrance of the high school through parking lot.

Outside, in the hallway at the , some of those parents and residents discussed how they would park along both sides of their narrow streets the next morning to make it difficult for buses to reach the entrance of Cedar Hill School from Peachtree Road. During a three-hour meeting with the Board of Education, dozens of residents protested that the rerouting, put into effect by school administrators to help relieve morning traffic congestion at the high school entrance, had moved safety and traffic hazards to narrow roads in their neighborhood.

But on Tuesday morning — although residents were out on Peachtree Road counting cars and observing buses — local neighbors apparently had decided to park only on one side of the street. At least three police cars were parked or patrolling the road near the entrance to the Cedar Hill School.

A half-dozen neighbors out by the entrance to the school at about 7 a.m. on Tuesday said they will approach the Township Committee at its scheduled meeting to ask that what they say are safety issues on the road be addressed immediately.

The residents told school officials during a three-hour school board meeting on Monday that that two children in the neighborhood were nearly hit by cars heading to bring students to Cedar Hill. They also said that along with 27 buses carrying high school students, close to 100 additional cars apparently have discovered students can enter the high school from the back through the Cedar Hill School.

Schools Administrator Nick Markarian, out at the entrance to Cedar Hill on Tuesday morning, said that the issue will be further discussed Tuesday afternoon at a meeting of the facilities subcommittee of the school board.

"I think what we will discuss is whether or not to do a traffic study [of morning traffic patterns at Ridge High School] and whether that's something the board wants to do," Markarian said.

Throughout the evening, several speakers had suggested hiring a traffic expert and cooperating with the township to come up with a long-term solution instead of routing the traffic through Homestead Village. The board also was presented with a petition signed by 165 nearby residents who oppose the routing of buses through their neighborhood.

Rich Sahler, who owns a home near the entrance to the Cedar Hill School, said the school district's rerouting of buses to drop off students at the rear entrance to the high school, had also made many more parents aware that the alternate dropoff location exists.

UPDATE: School website urges parents not to use Cedar Hill as morning dropoff location for Ridge students

At about 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Markarian said he had counted 62 vehicles dropping off high school students behind Cedar Hill. He said that he and Ridge Principal Frank Howlett would ask parents not to drive behind Cedar Hill to bring their students to school.

As he promised, by later Tuesday morning, the Bernards Township school website strongly requested parents not to drop off Ridge students behind the Cedar Hill School any more.

Markarian said he cannot close off the Cedar Hill School entrance to all traffic except school buses. Other cars, including parents bringing their children to the before-school childcare program at Cedar Hill, also drive into the school during the same time period, Markarian said.

The change in Ridge bus routes was designed between about 7 to 7:30 a.m. near the entrance to Ridge High School at a traffic light at the intersection of South Finley Avenue and Lake Road.

Ridge Principal Frank Howlett began the evening's presentation by showing videos of how traffic at the high school has thinned and how a dangerous situation there of students crossing between vehicles, with visibility blocked by buses, has been improved.

In his presentation, Howlett cited other advantages to removing bus traffic from entering the main entrance to the high school in the mornings. That included a reduction of waiting time at the traffic light for other commuters and faculty as well as parents and a reduction in student tardiness. He said that overall the change had been a success.

Howlett said after the meeting that he will try to stop cars from dropping off high school students behind Cedar High School, but he hadn't yet decided how he would do so.

But, in the meantime, others backed Homestead Village resident Alex Petronella when he approached the board on Monday, saying, "I would ask that this experiment stop until we get an expert to come in."

Resident Jill Faherty said her daughter, in sixth grade, was crossing Peachtree Road to reach her school bus when a car drove by, not stopping even for the bus' lights.

A eyewitness to the near-accident, Kathy McCarthy, said the girl had been standing on the sidewalk, and was properly walking in a crosswalk when she was nearly run down.

After hearing the residents speak, Board president Susan Carlsson said the board's facilities  board will look at the suggestion of hiring an expert and further investigate the issue on Tuesday.

But the board as a whole declined to overrule the school system's adminstration's decision that the dropoff behind Cedar Hill continue while the school district further examines how to address the issue of traffic flow at the high school.

Related coverage: Board of Education votes 6-3 in favor of moving school elections to November.

However, Board Member Susan McGowan said, "I think it's very disturbing that in 10 days we had two close calls with children in the neighborhood." She said she believes the trial bus rerouting had been a "tremendous failure for the Homestead Village neighbors."

Board member Michael Byrne said the issue was "nothing new," and that school officials should seek to get the township involved in coming up with a long term solution.

Township Committeewoman Carolyn Gaziano started the public comment session by answering a question asked by several speakers. She said Township Police Chief Brian Bobowicz said the gravel roadway from the police station and the rear parking lot is for emergency access. She added the chief reported he was  concerned that police who might need to respond to an emergency situation also could be blocked by school traffic heading onto Collyer Lane from the municipal complex.

Howlett and others brought up that high school buses had been routed through the Cedar Hill parking lot several years ago. However, residents said the police had asked that practice be discontinued. Police were not at the meeting.

The notice to parents posted on Tuesday morning on the Bernardsboe.com website read: "Recently, the Ridge High School morning buses have been unloading students from the Cedar Hill School parking lot immediately adjacent to the Ridge High School campus. The result is a drastic improvement in the car line in front of Ridge High School where parents drop off students.

"Of course rerouting the buses has also increased traffic through the Homestead Village neighborhood. To reduce Homestead Village traffic, we are asking that all private vehicles utilize the car line in front of Ridge High School for dropping off students – NOT the Cedar Hill School.

"Please help us remove private vehicle traffic from the Homestead Village neighborhood by utilizing only the car line in front of Ridge High School if you are driving Ridge students to school. Preferably, if possible, have your children ride the bus to school."

Patch will continue to update this story.