Revote on Smithtown school bus plan mulled

A day after Smithtown parents called for a second chance to vote on a change in the district's busing plan, school board members said Wednesday they would not rule out putting the issue back on the ballot.

But the board members said they were not sure whether they could, or should, hold another vote before September.

Smithtown residents last month voted to increase by a half-mile the distances from school that students must live to be bused to school -- to a half-mile for students in grades K-5 and 1.5 miles for students in grades 6-12.

The proposition also decreased the maximum distance that district buses will transport parochial school students, from 20 miles to the state-mandated 15 miles.

The proposition passed by more than 600 votes of nearly 7,000 cast. School district officials have said reducing busing will save about $800,000 in costs.

More than 200 people jammed into a school board meeting Tuesday to plead for a second vote. Parents said their children would have to walk to school, putting them in danger because many Smithtown roads do not have sidewalks.

"Our children are worth way more than $800,000," said Jennifer Savickis of Kings Park. She said she worried how her daughter, Samantha, 12, would get to school if snow is piled up onto the shoulders of the road.

In an interview Wednesday, school board vice president Joseph Saggese said the board may look at traffic patterns in the district, as well as the legal complications of holding a second vote. School district attorney Eugene Barnosky said it would take 60 days to plan and advertise a new vote.

"We have to sort through all the data," Saggese said. "We're certainly not going to put children in any harm."

School board member Theresa Knox said she had voted against reducing busing and "would not rule out" a second vote. But she added, "It gives me pause to set aside the will of the community."

Many parents insist the May referendum was confusing. Stacey Heinz, of St. James, the mother of two children, said many voters mistakenly assumed that a "yes" vote was in support of the current transportation policy. "This is not a 'Too bad, you lose' situation, because the losers are our students," Heinz said.