Bus will not leave rural kids behind

Crystal and Johnnie students to have transportation

Dawnene Gott had a predicament: the Nye County School District proposed cutting the school bus route to Crystal and Johnnie, leaving nine children to get to school by other means. School district policy, if strictly interpreted, requires a minimum of 10 students for a bus route.

Though the school district offered her 27 cents per mile to drive her own kids to school, Gott said she wouldn't have the time, working two jobs, at her cleaning service and in the evening tending bar at the Shortbranch Saloon in Crystal.

Lesa Wald, of Johnnie, pointed out to Nye County School District board members Aug. 14 they just finished talking about No Child Left Behind, a new piece of federal legislation.

"My concern is my children are going to be left at home," Wald said, using a play on words. Wald said she has three children attending three schools.

School board president Nancy Sollinger said she could sympathize with the women, having had to transport her own child from Sarcobatus Flats to Beatty.

Gott said it's 21 miles from Crystal to Rosemary Clarke Middle School, which is at the northern end of Pahrump Valley, which would translate to $56 per week in mileage reimbursement. It's 25 miles to Manse Elementary School, she said.

"Our little community of Crystal, everybody pays taxes, what do we get?" Gott asked.

School Superintendent William (Rob) Roberts told the two women, "There was a school bus policy that if there were not at least 10 children, they would not come to pick you up." But he agreed to study the problem.

Nye County School District Transportation Director Cameron McRae said state law allows the district to pay mileage to parents in lieu of busing, if it isn't practical or economical to pick up school children. McRae said paying parents 27 cents per mile to drive their own children to school is a lot less than the $2.25 per mile it costs to transport children by bus when salaries, gas and overhead are included. McRae said there's 13 agreements elsewhere in the school district with parents driving their own children to school.

The problem came to a happy conclusion on Friday, when after a meeting between the parents and Assistant Superintendent Rod Pekarek, the school district agreed to reinstate the bus route.

Roberts detailed the reasons for reinstituting the route.

"If we reimbursed each one of them for doing it and the exact cost, there was about an $11,000 difference. But I thought it was best for the goodwill of the community to absorb that. The caveat is, should the ridership drop off below the numbers that are predicted, we'll look at it," Roberts said. "We've got to be stewards of the community trust. I just hate for a kid not to be in school because their parent couldn't bring them."

Gott said it's the second time she's had to fight for a bus route. When she first moved to Crystal, Gott said she had to drive her son to Johnnie to board the bus.

"They haven't enforced this policy forever in Crystal," Gott said.

"We should be one of the richest counties in the world. I am 20 miles from the front door of Yucca Mountain. I am 14 miles from the test site. We can do bombs. We can store nuclear waste, and our kids can't get to school?" Gott asked.


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