A group of Levittown parents are voicing their concerns with letting their children walk to school, since it would mean they would continue to cross Hempstead Turnpike.
“My kid has to cross [Hempstead Tpke.] daily without a crossing guard,” said Division Avenue parent Wendy Lantigua.
For Lantigua and others, the dangers of Hempstead Turnpike became all to real after 13-year-old Brianna Soplin was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver, last June. Not to mention the fact that another 14-year-old Levittown student suffered multiple injuries after being struck in hit-and-run, last February.
“To get to school my daughter has to cross a minimum of 8 lanes,” Lantigua said. “The Southern State [Parkway] would be safer… it only has 6 lanes.”
The Levittown Public School District currently provides transportation for 3,282 students in the district. For children in grades K-8, buses are provided only if they live more than 3/4 of a mile form the school, meanwhile high school students in grades 9-12 can only be provided transportation if they live outside a 1 1/2 mile radius.
Lantigua said that since she lives 1.46 miles away, the district will not provide transportation for her daughter, a freshman at Division Avenue, to go to school.
“The bus passes right by my home every morning,” said Pamela Mojica, another Division Avenue High School parent who was told she lives under the 1.5 mile requirement.
Frustrated with the district’s refusal to bus students living less than a mile-and-a-half from the school, Lantigua turned to the website change.org to set up a petition. As of press time,
Lantigua has accumulated over 371 online signatures and 133 physical signatures, to petition the district change its the mileage requirements.
“The safety of our students is and has always been our first concern,” said Board President Peggy Maraenghi.
According to Maraenghi, the law does not permit the district to bus children living less than 1 1/2 from the school.
She explained that in order for the district to reduce the mileage requirement, a referendum would need to be approved by the voters. If approved by a 60 percent majority vote, the result could amount to a $132 tax increase for district residents.
“I don’t understand why we don’t have the ability as parents to petition this,” Lantigua said.
Levittown Schools Superintendent Dr. Tonie McDonald rebutted that by lowering the requirement to allow transportation for students living more than a mile from the school, would still not cover all the children living south of the Turnpike.
School officials also say they plan to conduct a traffic study to determine whether or not it is necessary to have a crossing guard along Hempstead Turnpike.
If so, the board stated that it will be up to the Nassau County Police Department to make the final decision.
