Kathie Creasey, right, holds a sign during Thursday’s protest against Oak Ridge Schools’ expanded parent responsibility zone. The zone change eliminates transportation services for students who live within 1.5 miles of their school. (Photo by Sara Wise)
Critics of Oak Ridge Schools’ expanded parent responsibility zone protested Thursday morning at the intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue.
Laurie Paine, who lost her daughter, Ashley, at the intersection in 2007, joined almost 15 other parents and community members to rally for change.
“I don’t want anyone to go through what my family went through,†Paine said. She started a Facebook page to unite community members who were against the walk zone and used that website to spread the word of the protest.
Robertsville Middle School parent Kathie Creasey became emotional at the protest, saying that her own son was close to Ashley. She was protesting because she doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her kids.
Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn also attended the protest to show support for Paine. She said the school board needs to prioritize their budget.
“If you provide one service to one student, you need to provide it to all students,” Baughn said. “They have the funds and they have the means to do that.â€
The school district announced last week that bus services would not be available to students who live within 1.5 miles of an Oak Ridge school. At first, that distance was “as the crow flies,†but it was changed to actual walking distance on Wednesday.
Daniel Morgan, who created a petition against the walk zone, said that his children wouldn’t have to walk to their schools after the change was made, but he is still working to bring the services to other families.
“There’s still too many kids that can’t ride the bus,†Morgan said. “They can’t speak for themselves, or choose not to, so we choose to speak for them.â€
Paine said she felt that the Oak Ridge Board of Education hoped Wednesday’s change would satisfy parents. The change was a “positive step,†but she hopes transportation services can be reinstated for all students.
“We’re not going away,†she said.
Many of the parents in attendance referenced the Paine family’s loss, and the protest was actually staged directly in front of a statue memorializing the accident.
Sara Wise is a freelance contributor to Oak Ridge Today.
Jason Allison says
These parents have picked a losing battle. The city needs to stand firm on their position as they are so far behind the eight ball and well within the laws. Instead of fighting this issue, parents need to be creative in their solution of their responsibility of seeing their kids get to school. Busses cost money, the school system is short on money. Where is the school system to get this money? No one wanted to raise taxes for the schools.
Can you say you can’t have your cake and eat it too????
Heather Hartman says
I agree that, at this point, parents simply need to be creative in addressing this issue. It may be that several children living near each other could walk together as a group. If parents think that’s not safe for their children, a schedule among several parents could rotate the responsibility for dropping off/picking up their kids, lessening the burden on any one parent.
The attention and debate on this issue is a good thing for our community. I hope that more citizens will become involved earlier in the process next year…at the BOE meetings while the budget is being developed. As we learned this year, the City Council may approve an amount, but the BOE decides how to spend the money.