May 18, 2010

To: Clear Creek Transportation

From: Ross Elementary Parents

Re: Bus Service for Landing, Cedar Landing and Clear Creek Meadow

Dear Mr. Dean Lewis,


We are very upset to find out that you decided to cancel the bus service for the Landing, Cedar Landing and Clear Creek Meadows subdivisions for the upcoming school year.

We can’t help but wonder if you or your staff has ever been on FM 518 between Landing and Ross Elementary during school zone hours?
There are two ways for kids to walk to Ross Elementary: FM 518 and "safe" route proposed by your Department. We have itemized some important facts below:


1.The road doesn’t have any sidewalks. A child can easily fall or be pushed into the ditch by another child. Or, worse yet, get pushed or fall into the highways and be run over by a car.

2. To exacerbate the lack of sidewalks, there is a very dangerous bridge near Ross Elementary, over which children will have to walk. We believe that it is almost impossible to expect a child of 5-11 years navigate this highway without serious incident! We question whether you or your staff has taken the opportunity to actually walk this route in the mornings that you expect our treasure to navigate on their own? It is a very dangerous road to walk on, and your decision will create hazardous condition. There are five lanes of busy traffic in front of the school.

3. Additionally, there are many unsafe places between the school and the subdivisions, including an Auto Shop, a Convenience Store, a Gas Station and a Gun Shop. Children should not be walking alone here. One never knows what could happen to them. We are sure that many children whose parents work will be forced to walk in this dangerous area - children who are 11 years old and younger.

4. There is a “safe” route you suggest for our kids to take to avoid highway 518, but it takes at least 35 minutes of walking. We believe that it is unreasonable to expect children 5-11 years old to remember all the turns and not get into an unsafe situation? Please check the sex offender website to see how your “Safe” route puts our children in the crosshairs of something potentially worse than a tumble into a ditch or a fall into an oncoming vehicle.

5. The road already has a huge traffic problem every morning and afternoon during school drop off and pick up time, and if you cancel bus service we believe more parents will decide to drive their children, so the traffic will become unbearable for all League City residents.


Please review this situation again. Our hope is that decisions that are made consider the broader and more important facts such as safety of our children and that our expectations are commensurate to the age and capability of those on which we place those expectations. We feel that has not been properly considered in the decision on bus service. The press is currently aware of these decisions and has been contacting parents to discuss these very issues. We are critically concerned about our youngest children, and have been vocal to the press. Everyone is watching, and we think better decisions can be made which consider the current budget shortfall AND our children’s safety and well being. We would welcome an open dialogue or town hall meeting to discuss this in a more collaborative way.
Thank you for your reconsideration of this safety issue.