School buses = fat kids, broke taxpayers

by Beth Quinn

I saw a letter to the editor a couple of weeks ago from a man advocating that we cut back on school bus transportation for kids.

When I saw that, I said to myself, bless this guy. His name is Bill Kuhens of Otisville, and the man has a lot of common sense.

I've been wanting to write a column along those lines for some time now, but I was too cowardly. I just wasn't up to having the full wrath of parents descend upon my head.

But Bill has given me courage, and I'm going out on his limb with him.

We need to start finding ways to cut back on school bus transportation for kids. And we need to do it both for our pocketbooks and for the kids themselves.

Before you dismiss this out of hand, let me start by saying I know we can't go back to the good old days when we walked six miles uphill in a snowstorm to get to school.

We will always need buses to pick up kids who live miles and miles away — and for sports teams and for BOCES and for the handicapped kids. We can't do without those.

But when did we start picking up kids who live next door to the school? Or a block away? Or even a mile away? When did kids' legs fall off?

Or — more to the point — when did kids get too fat to walk a couple of miles to school?

- more -