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Rich
Top Member
United States
5768 Posts |
 Posted - 11/27/2003 : 8:01:13 PM
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Courtesy: The Journal News
BY CHRIS SERICO
THE PATENT TRADER
When Antoniette Belli died of lung cancer Jan. 27, the North Salem School District allowed school buses to pick up her two youngest daughters in front of their Hawley Road residence for the remainder of the school year.
Since late August, the Belli family has been fighting for this privilege, which has been denied by Superintendent Dr. Debra Jackson.
As the oldest of Antoniette's three daughters, Monica Belli, 20, said Tuesday that she and her father, Domenic Belli, have pled their case to Jackson for seven weeks. "We've been trying to get in touch with her and she just doesn't seem to want to be bothered with it," she said.
Domenic and Monica Belli are Westchester County employees who have lobbied district officials to approve the bus stop in front of the Belli residence. In the process, the father-daughter tandem forwarded their formal pleas to county Executive Andrew Spano, two state senators, town Supervisor Sy Globerman and county Legislator Ursula Lamotte, R-Bedford, among others.
Although Jackson has discussed the matter on several occasions with Domenic Belli, the superintendent said she first spoke with Monica Belli on Tuesday. Jackson said she invited the North Salem alumna to speak at an Oct. 29 Board of Education meeting in the middle-high school cafeteria.
Added Jackson: "I really hope that we could have a lengthy conversation so she could understand the alternatives that she could pursue for her sisters."
'Our family needs a great deal of support'
In an Aug. 27 letter addressed to Jackson, Domenic Belli asked the district to pick up his two youngest daughters, who attend seventh and eighth grade at North Salem Middle School.
"At the end of the (2002-03) school year, I asked you if the bus could again pick up my daughters at home in the fall," he wrote. "You asked me to call you before school began and assured me it wouldn't be a problem. When I spoke to you this week, you refused my request. You suggested that my young children walk to the school bus stop or that I could send them to another school."
Domenic Belli said no neighbors live close enough to help his daughters down a road he described as "very narrow, dangerous and desolate" to get to the Hawley Road terminus. "Unfortunately, due to our work schedule, neither my oldest daughter nor I can get my children to and from the school bus stop.
"This last year has been a very difficult and traumatic time for my family," he continued. "My children have not adjusted to the loss of their mother. Now is when our family needs a great deal of support. I am appealing to your sense of decency, understanding and compassion."
Jackson would receive follow-up letters and phone calls from county officials, Globerman and state senators Nicholas Spano and Vincent L. Leibell.
Making decisions
On Sept. 20, Jackson replied to Globerman's letter and forwarded it to Domenic Belli and the entire North Salem Town Board. Shortly after the family moved to county property within North Salem in 1997, Antoniette Belli asked the superintendent and school board for bus pick-up in front of her driveway. The district denied her request both times.
"In June 2002, Mr. and Mrs. Belli came to speak with me and shared that Mrs. Belli would be receiving medical treatments," Jackson wrote. "They asked if, given the circumstances, I would reconsider transporting their family from their driveway. Given the difficulty of their situation and because we are a 'family community,' I agreed to a short-term solution for the current school year, and explained that the accommodation could be only for the short term, as this would be an exception to our policy, and was based solely on the current family situation.
"I believe I made the correct decision in providing the one-year of transportation, as this modification in our transportation program would be an expense to the district, and I was only able to reallocate monies to cover this cost for the (2003-04 school) year."
Jackson continued, acknowledging Domenic Belli's role as a single father whose work schedule conflicted with the school bus schedule, "I reminded him that the change in transportation was only for the prior school year and that I could not support a continuation, although my sympathies were certainly with him and his family, given the circumstances."
Fairness, cost concerns
The superintendent said school administrators and teachers supported the youngest Belli daughters during the traumatic time, but that the circumstance is not unique. "We have other single parents in this community who also need to provide alternatives for childcare," Jackson wrote. "The state law is very clear that it is the parent's responsibility to get the children to the bus pick-up location."
Jackson said North Salem, which spans about 32 square miles, has winding roads amid a natural landscape. "It would be cost-prohibitive to provide door-to-door transportation for our students," she wrote. "We are selective in providing a more extended transportation route for our mid-day kindergarten students given their age."
The family and school district dispute the distance from the bus stop to the Belli residence. Dominic Belli has stated that the distance is a half-mile; the school district estimated the distance to be .35 miles.
According to the Web site of the State Education Department's Office of Elementary, Middle, Secondary and Continuing Education, districts have broad discretion in measuring such distances. "The Commissioner of Education has held that a school district is not required to expend a great deal of time, effort and money in measuring distances, nor is it required to measure with the accuracy of a professional survey," reads a section of the EMSC Web site.
Jackson stated that she understood Globerman's pitch for the family, but added, "I hope you understand that we have reached out and offered support to the extent we are able."
State sees both sides
In response to the Belli family's fight, the State Education Department's Office of Elementary, Secondary and Continuing Education has also weighed in on the matter. Mary Lallier, who works for the EMSC communications unit, sent a Sept. 25 e-mail to Dale Terwilliger, who works in the Westchester County Parks Department and forwarded a letter to the state department on behalf of Monica Belli.
"While I certainly understand your concerns and offer my sympathy for your family's loss, please be advised that this matter is outside of the direct jurisdiction of the State Education Department, and is a matter of local policy," Lallier wrote. "The responsibility for establishing transportation policy and student eligibility rests with the board of education of each individual school district."
However, Lallier said that if family members have sufficient evidence that the district abused authority and neglected duty under the law, they could file an appeal with the commissioner's office.
According to the EMSC Web site, all roadside pickup points should be reasonably safe, but all "are hazardous to some degree and … no such location can be absolutely safe."
State law also indicates that school boards can consider safety, convenience, efficiency and cost issues to help reach a decision. "Nevertheless," the Web site reads, "it would be an abuse of discretion for a board of education to ignore or fail to give proper weight to the safety of a proposed pickup point."
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To Bus.... or Not to Bus? That is the Question!
