How can the district allow this to happen?
The fort lee school district is opening the doors to a new location for 5/6 they will now join 7/8 graders at the Lewis F Cole Middle school on Stilwell ave. The Fort Lee middle school will now be home to students from all 4 schools across town for 5th -8th grade. The school district offers free bussing for any student who lives 2 miles away. Some of the students attending the middle school are coming from the Englewood Cliffs side of town and near to School 3. Those residents of the Point complex and students who live near this major commuter area are some of the students still not offered bussing and in need of bus service. In grades 5/6 ONLY, the town is requiring those in need who don't meet the 2 mile distance requirement, to pay $1500 per child, to allow students to walk to a nearby bus stop .2 miles away to catch the bus. They aren’t offering subscription bus service to 7/8 grade students whatsoever. So families who live 1.9 miles away, which is 3 blocks distance difference, are being required to pay for a bus that isn’t even picking their children up door to door.
The school is located on the South Side of the highways that enter the George Washington Bridge. Crossing these roads that are used to by-pass these crowded roads at rush hour is incredibly dangerous. There are no crossing guards on some of these main roads and intersections.
There have been multiple pedestrian accidents where children have been struck by cars while crossing bridge traffic, and to require students ages 11 to 13 to walk across that incredibly dangerous area at peak traffic hours is inherently dangerous, No transport is being offered at this time for households with who don't meet the distance requirements for transport in 7th or 8th grade at all. So 2 children coming from the same house hold one in 5th grade and one in 7th and only one gets a bus(which they must pay) and the other must walk to and from school.
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