SAUGUS — The school committee will hold a special meeting Wednesday to vote on whether to restore athletic transportation for the district’s student athletes.
The decision comes following a change in state guidelines regarding COVID-19 bus safety. If the committee votes to approve the restoration, Saugus students and parents will no longer need to drive themselves to school games.
“Without COVID, this wouldn’t have been an issue, because the kids would have been able to just hop on the bus and go without worrying about sitting three feet apart, six feet apart,” said School Committee Chair Thomas Whittredge. “But now kids can now ride as usual as long as they wear their mask, so we wanted to find out if we have the money to support busing for the rest of Fall 2 season and Spring season.”
The district’s current rule states that no students can drive individually to a game unless accompanied by a parent or guardian, however, that rule was temporarily suspended in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the district decided last spring to reallocate funding for transportation to other parts of the school budget.
Instead, families must now sign a waiver before allowing licensed students to drive themselves to games.
“I didn’t feel comfortable with kids driving. That’s my honest opinion as an ex-high school principal, parent, and superintendent,” said Saugus Schools Superintendent Dr. David DeRuosi.
When the state changed its bus safety guidelines two weeks ago, Whittredge said he reached out to DeRuosi to request that funds for additional buses be allocated from elsewhere in the district’s budget.
“That way we don’t have to worry about any waivers, and kids will all have transportation that we’ve provided, as it should be,” he said.
Whittredge said he was particularly concerned at the prospect of students driving themselves to and from games, noting that the rule forbidding students to drive themselves was first implemented several years ago following an accident involving Saugus student athletes.
“The waiver thing has turned into a nightmare and I just don’t feel good about five kids driving themselves to a football game, or any game, and then coming back home after. Kids get a little crazy sometimes,” he said. “A lot of these kids get up at 5 in the morning because school starts so early. If they have a night game that doesn’t start until 8 p.m. and then have to drive home by themselves afterwards, things could happen.”
Elyse Carmosino can be reached at [email protected].
