Safety should be priority

Children thrive in environments that are consistent and safe. It’s where nurturing and thriving coexist in a world that can be utterly chaotic. Saying was, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” However that’s seemingly changed. Instead of maintaining, our society is quick to toss what could be fine and find new. This has proven true recently with a few school districts in Sanders County. Our community had a safe, logical agreement for students attending school out-of-district. That agreement was recently revoked with the unfortunate events of an adult trying to push their agenda. Our children in these communities had options. Those options worked for many years and also were safe and routine. And it’s all in the transportation of our children to their education. They once were safe getting on and off the bus in a controlled environment with speed limits and accesses. There’s no controlled access, speed limits that are unsafe with locations of current bus stops and no signage for two of those stops to warn travelers, especially those from out of the area, that there may be a bus stopped around that curve, letting children on and off. The speeds at which travelers exit the highway as well as stopping for the stop sign are quite rapid. In a recent article from the Sanders County Ledger, the owner of transportation for Thompson Falls schools said this - “I am watching over and making sure they are safe stops.”

My child rides the bus to and from school. At this point, John Mosher and Bud Scully have been seen once across from the South Hill stop and Mosher was seen once following the high school bus. Doesn’t seem like that’s an accurate assessment time to make sure the children and stops are the safest they can be. The claim being made by districts is that it’s costing taxpayers more for these children to be picked up or dropped off at this location. When I recently reached out via email to one of the district administrators with questions about our tax dollars and reasoning behind sending our student out-of-district, after an initial email that raised further questions, there has been no response.

Here is one of the questions I asked that would be much appreciated if answered: 1. What is your agenda behind not signing the agreement to have students from the Noxon/Trout Creek school districts be transported to Thompson Falls for their education? We felt that if people want to take their children out of the district, they should pay for the transportation, not the taxpayers. How are the taxpayers paying for this transportation for out of district students? Is there a difference in dollars when the bus makes a turn-around at a specific place versus the bus stopping at that turn-around to drop off/pick up students? Our household pays Noxon district taxes and chooses that our student attend elsewhere. This wouldn't be the case had Noxon district had the requirements our student needed to graduate without having to retake classes already passed. Not to mention more college readiness opportunities for our student elsewhere.

When did monetary gain supersede the safety and education of children? If you’re truly an educator, shouldn’t you be concerned with the safety and education of the children? Our family chooses to send our child out-of-district for many reasons. However that doesn’t mean our tax dollars follow our child. How are our tax dollars being spent to help students in our own district? What would it take to make the students take precedence over the dollars?

Kind Regards,

Jamie Russell,

Noxon