Update: Overcrowded Bus Leaves 10 Kids at Dows Lane, School Calls Emergency Meeting with Bus Company

After Ten Dows Lane students—in kindergarten through grade 3—were turned away from their school bus on Monday afternoon, district officials scheduled an emergency meeting with Ardsley Bus Company to rectify the situation once and for all.  The meeting will be held at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. 

"There is no way this should have taken so long to resolve," School Board President John Dawson said. "The superintendent will meet today with transportation coordinators and the bus company to demand that a plan be created and followed.

Third-grader Julian Medoza was one of the children turned away from the bus yesterday. "They said it was too crowded and that we couldn't get on," he said.

Parents are enraged that after three weeks of school, children are still often not able to board the bus in the morning, and, after so many kids were left after school yesterday, the board and administration took immediate action. 

"Parents were told their kids were still at school by bus monitors, who said, 'If your child did not get off the bus, he or she is still at school,'" Tori Weisel, a Dows Lane mom, said. "My neighbor was going to pick up her kids and mine because I wasn't feeling well. But she came back with only my child. Her husband had to leave work early to retrieve their kids."

According to parents whose children ride on "Bus 8" to Dows Lane, there have been problems since the first week of school. 

"Starting with the second day of school—when kindergarteners were first mixed with kids from older grades—there were more children waiting for the bus than there were seats when it got here," said Weisel, whose home in Tarrytown coincides with the last stop on Bus 8's route to Dows Lane Elementary School.  "We figured they would have it worked out within a few days."

When it happened again the following day, Weisel and other parents in the neighborhood started making phone calls. 

"First I called the Ardsley Bus Company, but was told this was an issue I wold have to work out with the school," Weisel said. "Then I talked to Robyn Kerner from the school board, and she was very upset—we were told it would be addressed immediately."

School board President John Dawson and board Vice President Robyn Kerner were appalled to hear that children were being turned away from the school bus.

"This is of tantamount importance. The superintendent, assistant superintendent and transportation coordinator have already met several times with Ardsley Bus Co.," Kerner said. "The solution had been worked out on paper, so I don't know where the breakdown is to make this keep happening."

Waiting for the bus in the morning—wondering whether their kids will actually get on—parents hypothesize about why overcrowding continues to happen.

"I feel like this is a statement about what's going on in our country," Weisel said. "This is just a microcosm of the crumbling quality of services that comes from reduced budgets."

Kerner did not agree, insisting that the root of the problem was a breakdown of communication within the bus company.

"It appears the company managers are not communicating with the bus drivers and monitors," Kerner said.  "This is very upsetting; in all the years we have worked with Ardsley Bus Co., we've never had  problem like this."

Many parents plan to attend Tuesday night's school board meeting to address the board and administration face-to-face and find out exactly what will be done to rectify the situation.

"We're trying to get to the bottom of this to make sure our children—especially the kindergartners—don't become afraid of the bus," parent Stacy Cusick said. "It's been inconvenient and stressful to have to plan carpools to and from school when our kids are supposed to be guaranteed busing."

Cusick added: "This has given a new definition to, 'No Child Left Behind.'"