Smithtown vote could restore school busing

Next week, Smithtown school district residents get to vote on whether to restore busing to 1,500 students.

Tuesday night, they have a chance to discuss the contentious issue at a public hearing.

The hearing is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the Joseph Barton administration building auditorium, 26 New York Ave., in Smithtown.

District residents in May voted to change the distance guidelines that dictate which students are entitled to be bused to school. The change affected students at the district's 14 schools and dozens more who attend private schools.

The move, which passed by 800 votes out of 7,000 cast, was expected to save $800,000 this year.

But parents objected to the change, saying their children would be placed in harm's way when they walked to school, often on roads that lack sidewalks. Parochial school parents signed petitions calling for a new vote, which was rejected in June on technical grounds.

In July, after two new members joined the school board, the board scheduled a second vote for Monday.

If the referendum passes, busing could be reinstated by Oct. 11, Superintendent Edward Ehmann said.

The May referendum eliminated busing for elementary school students who live less than a half-mile from school; extended -- from 1 mile to 1 1/2 miles -- the distance middle and high school students must live from school to be bused; and reduced, from 20 miles to 15, the maximum distance that private school students can live from their schools to get district busing.

As part of the changes, the 11,000-student school district added Suffolk County crossing guards and designed new student drop-off procedures at the schools.