Mamaroneck and Larchmont Parents Sue School District Over Busing Policy

A group of Mamaroneck and Larchmont parents have filed a lawsuit against the School Superintendent Robert Shaps and members of the Mamaroneck Board of Education challenging the district's new busing policy.

Fairness for All Kids, the grassroots group representing the parents, claims in a statement that "the Board has refused to address the legal, safety and fairness concerns of their policy," which includes the reinstatement of busing for students in grades 6-8.

At press time, the Mamaroneck school district had not yet released a statement concerning the lawsuit. 

Below is the full press release from Fairness for All Kids concerning the lawsuit:

Calling it an “arbitrary, blatantly discriminatory policy,” members of the Mamaroneck and Larchmont community today filed a lawsuit against members of the Mamaroneck Board of Education and Superintendent Robert Shaps to challenge the District’s  recently approved busing policy. The Article 78 proceeding argues that the policy violates New York State education law by denying dozens of private and parochial students the safety of yellow school buses, instead offering passes for public transit routes that they know full well are unviable for children. The law was clearly designed to protect thehealth, welfare and safety of all school children, and was intended to require parity among public and nonpublic school students with respect to transportation services.

While Fairness for All Kids – a coalition of parents, clergy members, and other community leaders who share the goal of maintaining safe, equitable transportation for all students in the Mamaroneck school district – has argued against the adoption of the policy for months, the Board has refused to address the legal, safety and fairness concerns of their policy.

"Taking legal action is a reluctant last step that parents feel they have been forced into by a School District that has refused to hear our concerns or answer direct questions about their misguided policy," said Svetlana Wasserman, of the Fairness for All Kids Coalition. "We have made every effort to convince the Board of that fact through democratic channels, attending Board meetings and organizing against the change. Their insistence on moving forward has left parents with no choice but to take this to the courts."

The District has also stated its intention to dismantle the busing program for middle school children in the future, as well as for all private and parochial schools, so hundreds more children will be at risk in the years to come.

"It's really unfortunate that the Board's misguided decision to adopt this policy will end up costing taxpayers far more in legal and administrative fees than they ever hoped to save the district," said attorney Max Gaujean. "This law was originally established in 1947 and amended by the legislature over a half century ago with Governor Rockefeller saying 'the law requires that children attending private schools be afforded transportation on a parity with public school pupils.' The Board has an unreasonable, irrational interpretation of the law that goes against decades of practice from across the state. We are confident the courts will find theirinterpretation incorrect."

Education Law § 3635(1) requires non-city school districts – including the Mamaroneck school district – to provide transportation services to all resident children living within aspecified mile range of their school, whether they attend public, religious or private school. However, the District’s new Student Transportation Policy 8412 – which was adopted by the Mamaroneck Board of Education on April 8, 2014 – reverses the District’s long-standing practice of providing transportation by private carrier to students in grades 9-12, and requires nonpublic school students as young as 13-years-old to travel to and from school via public transportation. Under the new policy, students are denied a school bus if their commute is up to three hours (90 minutes each way),   and may also include a transfer between modes of public transportation, and  walking up to six miles a day, in addition to the ride or rides on public transportation.

The District claims they are satisfying the law’s explicit mandate to provide “sufficient transportation facilities (including the operation and maintenance of motor vehicles)” by providing passes for nonpublic school students to ride on public transportation. In reality, however, the public transit routes allowed by the policy are so unreasonable, so onerous, and so unsafe that few, if any, parents could allow their children to take them. The Board is well aware that this is the case. Thus, by adopting a policy that denies private and parochial students the safety and convenience of yellow school buses, and offering passes for public transit routes that they know full well are unviable for children, the Board is attempting to circumvent the statute.