‘Our children could be struck.’ Parents fight school bus stop along busy Wallkill road
Parents say eight children ages 4 to 9 must walk along Blumel Road without sidewalks to reach a relocated Pine Bush school bus stop. The district says the route is safe, but families disagree and fear conditions will worsen this winter.
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Parents in the Town of Wallkill say eight young children are being forced to walk dangerously close to traffic along a busy road without sidewalks to catch their school bus.
The children, ages 4 to 9, attend Lil’ Buds Child Care & Preschool on Blumel Road. Parents say the Pine Bush Central School District moved a bus stop that had been directly outside the daycare for nine years, requiring children to walk approximately 2/10 of a mile along Blumel Road to Alvaran Lane.
The district has deemed the route safe, but parents strongly disagree.
“There’s very little space for eight or nine kids walking,” said Betsy Abraham, a Town of Wallkill mother whose 6-year-old son is a first grader. “Our children could be struck or worse.”
Video provided by parents shows children walking close to passing vehicles in rainy conditions. Other images show police helping children reach the bus stop.
News 12 also documented the route, including traffic passing close to the narrow shoulder.
Abraham says her son is frightened by the daily walk.
“He’s scared. He’s scared to be on this road every day,” she said.
Parents are particularly worried about winter conditions. Photos taken during previous snowstorms show snowbanks piled along the roadway, leaving little room for children to walk.
“The children will have to be walking essentially in Blumel Road in those treacherous conditions because, as you see, there’s no sidewalk anywhere,” Abraham said.
Victoria Shaw, whose 4-year-old attends Lil’ Buds and is bused from there to the district’s universal prekindergarten program, says the arrangement is especially difficult for working parents.
“This is not safe. This is not safe to have my child walking on a road with barely any shoulder to go down another road,” Shaw said.
Shaw says parents have repeatedly raised concerns with the district but feel dismissed. She alleges they’ve been told to stop contacting school officials and have been referred to as “hysterical moms.”
Daycare owner Lacey Gotay shares their concerns, saying fog, limited visibility and winter snowbanks make the route particularly dangerous.
“Once the snow accumulates, there is no usable pedestrian route for these children,” Gotay said in a statement.
In a statement to News 12, Pine Bush Superintendent Joseph Lenz said the district considers student safety, route efficiency, costs and other factors when establishing bus stops. He also said parents and guardians are responsible for getting children safely to and from designated pickup locations.
“District administration and our bus contractor carefully reviewed all facts and circumstances surrounding this matter in determining the safety of this bus stop location,” Lenz said. “I am unable to elaborate on additional details at this time due to legal constraints.”
As a result of their concerns, parents say they’ve contacted several local officials and are also pushing for changes to New York’s school transportation appeal process.
They say the current 30-day window to appeal district decisions to the state education commissioner often doesn’t allow enough time to obtain documentation and responses from school officials.
For now, the families want the bus stop returned to the daycare, where children had been picked up for years.
“Pine Bush schools is creating a dangerous situation that does not have to be,” Shaw said.
