Knox school officials hope action from state lawmakers will allow them to resume offering preschool transportation.
The school corporation had been using white minibuses to take preschoolers to and from class but recently learned that’s not allowed, according to Superintendent Dr. William Reichhart. “Now, we can transport special ed students on it who are preschoolers,” he told the school board Monday. “We can transport their siblings who are regular ed kids on it, but the state law, as it currently is written, says we cannot.”
Reichhart said the minibuses may also be used to take the same students on field trips, but not to pick them up at home. “I tried to explain, ‘Isn’t it safer to back into the drive and drop off a four- and five-year-old at their doorstep than having them walk across a road?’ A lot of our driveways are hidden from the road to the house in some locations. They couldn’t argue against that, but they said we have to follow the state law as it’s written at the present time.”
Reichhart said school officials are now working with State Representative Jim Pressel, who is one of the co-sponsors of a bus safety bill. “There should be an amendment to a bill going through this Thursday that will allow minibuses to be used, beginning with the next school year,” Reichhart said.
The superintendent said he continues to look at other options in the meantime. He added that all parents have so far been able to find a way to get their preschoolers to class.
