Parents meet with district officials to explore busing options

Greg Shaw addresses the Menifee Union School District governing board during Tuesday's meeting. Menifee 24/7 photo: Doug Spoon

Three residents seeking options to address busing problems in the Menifee Union School District met Friday with district officials and appear to have made some progress, according to two of those who attended.

Arthur Ma and Greg Shaw told Menifee 24/7 they had a productive meeting with superintendent Steve Kennedy and Ambur Borth, assistant superintendent of business services. Danielle Roscoe, another member of the parents' group that opposes the elimination of busing to general education students, also attended.

"They were definitely very open, helpful and candid with us," said Shaw, who has two boys attending MUSD schools and is in need of transportation for them. "I want to stress that we had a conversation about a program to restore busing. It was not on alternative child care and car pools. It was strictly about restoring busing."

An online petition created by Ma gathered more than 1,300 signatures protesting the district's July 12 announcement that it has eliminated busing for all but special education students, who by law must have access to such school transportation. Several parents protested outside the district office and some of them addressed the school board at its July 25 meeting.

In a budget presentation during that meeting, Borth reported that the district could save $700,000 by cutting busing. Kennedy said previously that the cost paid to the Hemet Unified School District to provide busing increased from $1.5 million to $2 million last year and that the budget didn't allow for such an expense this year.

Shaw said the parents' group proposed that a survey be drafted and posted on the district website, asking for residents' feedback about whether they would be willing to pay an annual fee for their children's busing, not to exceed $600 per student. MUSD has charged a fee to parents for busing in prior years, before costs of the agreement with Hemet USD increased. He said Kennedy was willing to consider the idea, pending communication with school board members.

"That was one of our proposals," Shaw said. "I am putting together the survey right now. Our goal is to figure out how many people would be interested. Then we could figure out what the cost would be.

"The idea is to create the survey, send it to the district and have them post it on the website and inform parents through a robocall. Dr. Kennedy liked the idea, but he said it's something he would have to take to the school board. He and Ms. Borth talked to us about how the board works and they definitely wanted to avoid any impression that they were going behind board members' backs."

Efforts by Menifee 24/7 to reach Kennedy and school board president Bob O'Donnell Friday night were unsuccessful.

"Since this is still at a preliminary stage, we don't know the outcome, but the attitude of Dr. Kennedy was positive and friendly toward us about resuming the busing," Ma said.

Shaw said that Kennedy showed willingness to work with Hemet USD if enough interest is shown in the survey to evaluate the possibility of additional bus routes being added to the special education students' routes at an affordable price.

In addition, Ma said he is preparing Articles of Incorporation for what is proposed as the Menifee Education Foundation, designed to be a non-profit organization that could collect donations or payments for submission to the school district. Shaw said in addition to processing bus payments through this organization, it could be used to accept donations for other school functions.