for delay in bus solution
The superintendent of the local school district says the problem is there is no one available to drive an extra bus to relieve crowding.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
With the problem of the overcrowding of a school bus that travels from Sunset Mesa to Malibu still mostly unresolved, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Superintendent Diane Talarico said at last week’s Board of Education meeting that she is embarrassed by the situation.
Although Sunset Mesa parents say the overcrowded bus has been an issue for years, a public outcry to do something about it only began in September. Later that month, Talarico rode the bus, and admitted that it was overcrowded. She recommended to the board that a new bus be placed on the route as a pilot program, but that has not happened.
“I apologize,” Talarico said. “I take full responsibility for the situation we are in right now. I had no idea when I made the recommendation to this board that it would take this long … It has brought no remedy to the children and their families in the Malibu community, and for that I apologize.”
Talarico said the problem is that there is nobody available to drive an extra bus. There is a bus driver shortage in Los Angeles County, she said. She said advertisements have been placed in local newspapers and job Web sites, but as of last Thursday the district had received an application from only one qualified person, and that person later declined the job offer because of its temporary status.
Since Sunset Mesa and Topanga parents became vocal about the situation, a bus already headed to Malibu has been used to pick up students in Topanga. District officials say that has reduced the number of students riding the bus coming from Sunset Mesa, although not enough.
The bus traveling from Sunset Mesa to Malibu is designed to hold 90 children and currently has as many as 80 passengers, but parents say that is not a safe amount of people because these are mostly high school and middle school students, many of whom are the size of adults. Earlier this fall, California Highway Patrol officers, at the urging of Sunset Mesa parents, stopped the school bus during its route to investigate the matter.
“After what we saw, we kind of have some reservations of the kids on the bus,” said CHP Officer Marcel Bacon. “It’s not the number of kids, it’s the size of the kids on the bus. Some students should be put on another bus to make everything safe for the long-term.”
Some parents also said they had paid the fee to get school bus passes for their children, but were denied the passes because only a limited number could be sold. Talarico said she wanted that immediately investigated, and for refunds to go out to any parents who were unable to attain bus passes.
Talarico said the district was currently studying the entire matter, including the fact that more students were traveling in the morning to Malibu than were returning to Sunset Mesa in the afternoon. She said she hoped there would be a solution in place by next semester.