HOWELL – The first Board of Education meeting for the 2024/2025 school year was held on Sept. 25, but was met by many confrontations from parents and guardians in the district.
When it came time for public comment, there were eight comments that focused on an issue of busing and transportation for Howell Township students of all ages. Many of the comments from the parents revolved around the buses arriving late, unprepared drivers and buses getting lost.
The superintendent of Howell schools, Joseph Isola, spoke about the issue early on in the meeting as well.
“I certainly recognize and have dealt with some of the challenges that transportation [has caused],” he said. “We understand why people are upset that buses run late early on. There’s still a couple of routes that the transportation department is evaluating. [They are] determining if there are needed supports or changes of routes that need to be put in place.”
In their public comments, one parent said her child was not getting home until one to two hours after school dismissal. Another father said his child fell and cut himself because the bus was moving before the child was properly seated.
“I know this is a very challenging, multi-faceted issue, but I believe the safety of our children is paramount and we must do everything in our power to improve the busing in our town,” said Dr. Sarah Moran, a mother who contributed the first public comment.
Also in her public comment, Moran spoke of four traffic accidents involving school buses that have happened since 2023. She also proposes tax funding to go toward busing improvements.
Matthew Incarnecione, a father who made comments at the meeting, said he placed a request through the Open Public Records Act for bus camera footage his children were on, but has been denied. According to him, as well as his wife who also made a public comment, their children were lost on the bus for nearly two hours.
Forty minutes after the Incarneciones reached out to the school, Kristen Incarecione found her children in an abandoned parking lot with two strangers.
“The things we do educationally in this district are phenomenal. But the deficit that we have is primarily focused around our transportation failures.” she said. “It’s not unreasonable to expect that there might be a 25-minute delay so that children can have attendance taken, but why are these things not communicated to us as parents?”
“We talk about safety being the most important thing right now, but none of this is safe,” said parent Vincent Fiorello, who has opted to pick up his child rather than allow him to ride the bus.
Alicia Richmond, a parent of a nonverbal autistic child, spoke of an experience in March of 2024 where her child was left crying and bleeding after riding the bus. Richmond, unlike Incarnecione, was able to receive camera footage from the bus. On this footage, she said she viewed abuse and mockery toward her child from the bus’ aide.
“I’m concerned the bus drivers are not properly trained to be working with children, especially children with special needs,” said Richmond. “I urge you to please take action to ensure that all staff responsible for transporting our children are trained, monitored, and held accountable.”
Typical to meeting procedure, there was no direct comment from the board to the public speakers following these comments.
Many suggestions were made to the board regarding using tax dollars to go toward transportation for the students.
“I’d like to acknowledge that we are certainly not without hiccups or concerns,” said Isola, before the public comments were made. “But we spoke with each and every parent who called, and we continue to work and improve to make sure we cut down on those situations on an ongoing basis.”
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