Frazer parents say children's walking route to school bus stop is dangerous

A road in Frazer has been deemed too dangerous for a school bus to drive on, yet the Deer Lakes School District considers it safe enough for an 8-year-old girl to walk nearly a mile to the bus stop along the same street.

Dana Russell of Frazer said her 8-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son, who is on the autism spectrum, would be required to walk along the hilly, winding Yutes Run Road to a bus stop on Butler Logan Road if they didn’t have private transportation.

With trucks using the road that has no sidewalks or shoulders, she is resorting to driving them to and from the bus stop herself.

“Right now, I have adjusted my work schedule, so I’m losing out on income because I will not allow my kids to walk this road. I just won’t do it,” Russell said. “The school thinks it’s appropriate that if I can’t be present at this bus stop, my kids can walk eight-tenths of a mile on the road to get to and from the bus stop.”

In total, there are seven students who live along Yutes Run Road who take the bus, she said, and her neighbor’s children also are driven to and from the bus stop.

Russell’s daughter attends East Union Intermediate Center, and her son attends Deer Lakes Middle School. This makes it more difficult for her because her kids’ bus schedules are an hour apart. It also means they can’t walk to and from the bus stop together.

Russell’s family moved into the neighborhood this week, but her children began attending Deer Lakes schools the week of Jan. 9, she said.

When asked about Russell’s safety concerns and questions about why an additional bus stop couldn’t be created, school district spokesperson Shawn Annarelli said that safety is a priority for the nearly 2,000 students it transports.

But the district can’t make everyone happy, he said.

“Each year, the district receives hundreds of requests to move bus stops based on a variety of reasons, including parent and student work schedules, marital situations, walking distance, bus stop visibility from homes and more,” Annarelli said. “These reasons, although a concern for parents, cannot always be accommodated.”

Bus stop was there for decades

Russell, however, said the school district, as of two months ago, had a bus stop on Yutes Run Road but has since removed it.

Russell’s husband, Ryan, said that bus stop had been around for decades, and he and his brother used it when they were students. His 20-year-old son also used it until he graduated in 2020.

“I never would have let my son (walk to the new bus stop),” he said. “My mom and dad wouldn’t have let me, either, because we know how people drive up and down this road. There’s been multiple car accidents.”

Kurt Shaffer, who also lives on Yutes Run Road, confirmed there was a bus stop on the road as of two or three months ago. His 9-year-old and 12-year-old children both ride the bus, although he lives closer to the stop.

“I can’t believe they want them to walk up our road,” Shaffer said, referring to Russell’s children. “Why would you want an 8-year-old girl walking up that road?”

The district’s response

Deer Lakes officials did not respond to followup requests for comment asking why the bus stop on Yutes Run Road was eliminated.

But the Tribune-Review obtained an email sent to Russell from Assistant Superintendent Bobbi-Ann Barnes about why a stop could not be added.

“Pennsylvania School Code permits students to walk a distance of up to 1.5 miles,” Barnes wrote Tuesday. “It is the responsibility of the school district to establish safe bus stops. It is the parents/guardians’ responsibility for making arrangements on how they handle the supervision of their children at the bus stop as well as their walk/drive to and from the designated bus stop.

“The District has consulted with Chief Kuhns of the Frazer Township Police Department as well as two representatives from PennDOT.

“We reviewed the request to turn the bus around on Yutes Run Road but, unfortunately, we cannot turn a bus around on private property. We also reviewed the request to travel up Yutes Run Road and turn left onto Butler Logan Road. In addition, we drove a bus on this route but determined that making a left turn onto Butler Logan is not a safe turn for a 78-passenger school bus.

”Bus stop change requests for new stops on established routes cannot be granted during the school year. The District will file your request for next school year when reviewing bus routes and stops.”

When reached by email, Chief Terry Kuhns said the issue was not a police matter; it would have to be handled by the parents and school district.

Dana Russell, however, said it would be simple for the district to restore the bus stop by their home.

“I just don’t understand what the big deal is,” Russell said. “It would literally add five minutes to the route. They were going down this road two months ago and picking up the kids. They said they can’t change it in the middle of the year. What do you mean?

“If I have to lose my job, lose my income and be homeless just so my kids are safe, then I guess that’s what I’ll have to do. This is insane we’re even arguing this.”

Russell cited additional safety concerns about her children potentially being abducted, given that without her transportation they would be walking nearly a mile to the bus stop — when it’s still dark in the morning — and back.

Annarelli said the school district encourages parents and guardians to determine the safest forms of transportation to and from school campuses and to and from bus stops.

“The current bus stops were determined based on considerations of both safety, efficiency and the Pennsylvania School Code,” Annarelli said. “Bus stops, many of which are not near sidewalks due to the rural makeup of the district, may change from year to year and vary from elementary to secondary schools.”

What the school code says

According to the code, there are multiple criteria that constitute a “hazardous walking route” for students.

For example, a walking route is deemed hazardous if there is no sidewalk; the shoulders are less than 4 feet wide; the roadway surface is less than 20 feet wide; and “one or more trucks with three or more axles, not including garbage trucks or other types of trucks making house-to-house stops, normally use the roadway during the time the elementary students are en route to or from school.”

In addition, the route is deemed hazardous if the average traffic volume is at least 10 vehicles per hour during the time students are walking and students of certain heights, depending on what grade they are in, are not visible by approaching drivers at certain distances.

In the case of Yutes Run Road, which is a 25 mph zone, that minimum distance would be 200 feet.

However, the code also states that buses are not required to stop at every dwelling even if the route is deemed hazardous because that could increase the probability of bus-related accidents. It also states a student might be required to walk as much as 500 feet along a hazardous route.