Smithtown residents to get busing revote

Smithtown school district residents will have a chance to restore busing for nearly 1,600 students.

The school board on Tuesday voted 5-2 to hold a Sept. 19 referendum that, if passed, would reverse the outcome of a May referendum that took busing away from about 14 percent of the district's public and private school students. District officials said busing could be restored almost immediately if the new proposition passes.

School board president Gladys Waldron said an outpouring of community opposition to the reduced busing led the board to call for a new vote.

"If everybody that's affected gets out to vote, it might [pass]," Waldron said.

Voters in May approved a plan to eliminate busing for elementary school students who live less than a half-mile from school. The new policy also extends -- from 1 mile to 11/2 miles -- the distance middle and high school students must live from school to be bused.

The May vote also reduced, from 20 miles to 15, the maximum distance that the district would provide busing to private and parochial school students. The changes would save the district $800,000.

The May proposition passed by about 800 votes out of 7,000 cast. The changes take effect when school resumes in September and remain in place unless the new referendum passes.

The May vote results caused a backlash from many parents, who said their children would have to walk to school along dangerous roads such as Route 347, some without sidewalks. Many said the May referendum was poorly worded and caused voters to mistakenly support the busing reduction.

On Tuesday, a crowd of about 500 people at Smithtown High School West applauded when the school board set the new vote. Board members Joseph Saggese and Louis Liguori voted against holding a new referendum.

Saggese said he opposed "disenfranchising" people who had voted in May to reduce busing. "It was approved by a very large margin," he said. "To turn that around is so wrong, I can't get into it."

Many audience members jeered school officials during a discussion before the board voted. Parents said they were happy to have a second vote, but expressed concern for their children's safety while the new busing policy is in effect.

Christine Santori, of Nesconset, said she would have to switch her work schedule to nights to take her two children to and from school.

"I would like someone here to explain to my children why you have unduly put the burden on to them," Santori said.

Nearly a dozen people spoke. None opposed a new vote or supported reduced busing.