LINN — One of the main topics of conversation at Thursday’s Linn R-2 board meeting was why the district stopped allowing students to be dropped off at St. George Catholic Church for Parish School of Religion (PSR). 

Several parents addressed the board, including Melissa Massman, who said, “For years, it’s been that students could be dropped off at St George for their after-school religious program. They ride the bus. They get dropped off there. We know they get there. If they’re not there, they call us and say, ‘Hey, your kid’s not here. Where are they?’ Then, as parents, we figured out where our kids went. 

“So, this year, it’s been changed that they cannot get dropped off there,” she continued. “We have to pick them up out here, or I have to have my kids ride the bus home and then find somebody else to get them to take them there, which, if you do the traffic here, you know how bad that is. So I’m just advocating that for the parents that want to send their kids there, we could still have the buses drop them there because it’s safer for them. 

“I mean, case in point, yesterday, one of my kids got left here,” Massman added. “One went home, he’s 6, and was frantic because nobody was with him. If they could ride the bus, they would have been dropped off at St. George, and we wouldn’t have been trying to figure out, okay, why is this kid here when he wasn’t given permission to stay here? And the other one’s at home, frantic, because nobody’s there with him. 

“So, I mean, I’m just advocating that the kids could still ride their bus and get dropped off at St George,” Massman concluded. “For my kids, it’s not a bus change. It’s just (our stop) versus St George. I mean, for other parents, it might be a different situation, but that’s my big thing. I would like for that to still be an option.”

Massman’s sister-in-law, Erin Backes, addressed the board next with a similar plea. “My kids got dropped off the first week of school at St George — never been a problem,” she said. “Thus far, my oldest is in 10th grade, my middle child is in eighth grade, and my youngest is in fourth grade. This whole time they’ve been in public school, it’s never been an issue for them to be dropped off at St. George after school on Wednesdays. 

“The second week, I get a phone call from my child on the bus saying that they can’t get off at the stop that they were planning on getting off at — they had to go home,” Backes continued. “So, I called the director at St George, telling them that my kids would not be there, and I was (asked), ‘Is Melissa going to go pick up your children?’ 

“Well, first of all, they’re not her responsibility,” Backes said. “I shouldn’t have to ask somebody to come pick up my child and take them where I need them to be. Growing up in Texas, we didn’t have any family around. Luckily, I do have family, but like I said, it’s not their responsibility to get my kids where they need to be, and I cannot take off work for an hour on Wednesday afternoons (and) come out here sit in the line to get them to the after school program that they need to be in. So, like I said, I’m in the same boat as Melissa. Just wanted you guys to consider keeping that program or that bus situation.”

Superintendent Bob James said the district’s policy has long precluded dropping kids off anywhere but at home or a board-approved childcare. “Our current transportation policy has been in place for a really long time,” James said. “We were pretty inconsistent in its application. We didn’t figure that out till March or April, but in March and April, you’re about to finish the school year, and we said, ‘You know what? Our families have gotten used to it. Let’s start next year with this,’ which is why I sent out the communication to families with that guidance at the beginning of the year. Then our bus drivers made an exception in week one or two.”

Board member Brett Phillips asked James if the district gets many requests for kids to be dropped off at stops other than their usual stop, to which James replied, “We had them daily, in our elementary office, for the most part, because high school kids just catch a ride, but daily. We did have a lot.”

James added that school policy strictly prohibits dropping kids off at a stop other than their regular stop because that opens the district to liability. “For instance,” James continued, “we had an elementary student that was dropped off at Grandma’s (the first week of school) that really shouldn’t have been. The bus driver was trying to do a nice thing. Mom didn’t realize that Grandma forgot that they were going to be dropped off there. (It) took about an hour between (the) bus company and us to figure out what the breakdown was, but we eventually got Mom and Grandma. That is our responsibility because we’re guided by state statute.”

“To me,” James added, “I hope we wouldn’t look at it as a parochial thing or not. I think the larger question is if a student has any class. Are we willing to say, ‘if you have music lessons or batting lessons or you want to join a running group, then you make your request at the office, and we’re responsible for making sure that you get there?’”

“It (also) places us in a position to manage 600 family schedules for after-school activities that aren’t really related to our school at all,” he added.

Board members seemed torn between wanting to provide a service to families in the district and the constraints of legal liability and school policies, with all board members voicing opinions. “Obviously, it’s an easy yes, we can do something nice,” James said, “but I feel like my job as an administrator is to guide you on policy and law. Kind of six-finger tested — are we breaking federal law, state law, board policy, establishing a dangerous precedent, an unsafe condition, or something that’s unsustainable with our resources?”

James noted that he thought the district would be violating several laws if it adopted a more lenient transportation policy.

Ultimately, the board decided to table the issue until next month to allow time to research the law, policies at other school districts, and alternative options.

The full meeting was live-streamed and can be watched on the district’s Facebook page.