Busing referendum in West Hempstead

This seat is taken

By Michael Orbach

“They called them walkers,” laughed Ann Koffsky, a mother of three who is spearheading a referendum campaign to update the policy. “Since then a lot of things have changed and the position is anachronistic.”

A coalition of private and public school parents support a change and on May 18, in addition to voting for members of the school board, voters in West Hempstead can weigh in on a referendum on new rules. If the referendum passes, West Hempstead would provide busing to children between grades K-6 who live three-tenths of a mile or more from their school.

Having her kids walk at their age is out of the question, said Shira Goldress, an accountant. She and her husband have two sons, ages 8 and 6, and live just outside the three-quarter-mile radius.

“They’d have to cross Nassau Boulevard themselves,” she said, referring to a busy street in the neighborhood. “It’s just unsafe.”

Both Goldress and her husband work in Manhattan. From Monday to Thursday she relies on an assortment of friends and relatives to transport her sons. “It’s very difficult to get them to and from school,” she said, adding that on Fridays she takes off in order to be able to pick up the boys on time.

Koffsky, an illustrator and children’s book author, splits carpool to the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County with another parent. Two years ago, she was stuck ferrying her children back and forth to school.

“I had a baby and [he] would nap exactly when I did carpool,” said Koffsky. “I was trying to work part-time. It was a nightmare. Now that the nightmare is over I have time to run a campaign.”

She continued: “If you’re a stay-at-home mom then you’ve got to get a babysitter. If you’re a working mother you need to have a babysitter who has a car. Do you know how hard it is to find a babysitter with a car? They don’t come with cars.”

When Koffsky and several other parents began circulating a petition asking that the school board consider changing the busing policy, the board said that a cost analysis would be required, but that first the petition would need to be signed by 75 parents. Koffsky returned with 250 signatures from parents of students at Hebrew Academy of Nassau County, St. Thomas the Apostle and the public schools.

According to Richard Cunningham, the district’s deputy superintendent, the cost of changing the rules would be about $95 per household per year, though Koffsky prefers to describe it as “a quarter a day.”

The number of children who receive busing in West Hempstead would nearly double from 639 to 1,095. An additional 10 buses would be required, Cunningham said, at an annual cost of $608,000, or 1.5 percent of the current tax levy.

“There’s a good level of discourse in the community about it,” Cunningham said, because the busing proposal carries potentially profound consequences.

The school board is seeking a 3.69 percent increase in the budget, from $52,205,691 to $54,547,423. The cost of the additional busing is factored into the proposed increase.

However, if the busing proposal passes but the budget does not, the 2010-11 school year would be under a contingency budget based on the previous year’s spending plan, and the $608,000 expenditure for additional busing would have to be made up with cuts to staff or other services.

If that were to happen, some worry that it could cause a rift between private school parents and public school parents who would have to deal with the cuts.

“We have to be very careful that this does not divide our town,” said West Hempstead resident and school board candidate Cynthia Dimiceli, whose children attend the public school on Cornwell Avenue. “Our co-existing town is made up of different backgrounds with different needs and requirements... Somebody else’s need may not be the same as mine and my need may not be the same as somebody else’s...”

Others argue that the ancillary benefits of added busing would be well worth the extra cost. “This is an issue that is mentioned to me time and again when I show potential houses in the neighborhood,” said West Hempstead realtor Sharon Lovy. “We should consider the fact that West Hempstead would be a far more attractive town for many families if transportation to school became less of a challenge.”

Cunningham said he was unsure of which way the vote will go. “I think part of my inability to comment is that we get to present to people who come and invite us in,” he explained. “There is a very big silent majority in all communities that it’s difficult to get feedback on.”

Koffsky is well aware of the opposition to the referendum.

“I don’t see any signs that say ‘vote no’,” she explained. “It’s human nature to vote in your self-interest. The Jewish community is not monolithic; the Christian community is not monolithic. Some say ‘I don’t want to pay a nickel more in taxes.’ I understand that. I hope they stay home on Election Day.”

Additional reporting contributed by Lee Landor