This means almost all Coastside students will have to find a way to get to school, which has left parents scrambling to solve logistical nightmares and commuters dreading worsening traffic congestion.
The reason the Coastside
 A Cabrillo Unified School District bus gets washed at the district offices on Kelly Avenue in Half Moon Bay. |
The district, he said, potentially is facing even more cuts because of the state budget crisis. Combine that with the failure of Measure A, a schools parcel tax that narrowly lost in March, and you have a daunting financial situation for the schools, Bayless said.
"I'm aware most people feel a huge frustration and I'm really concerned and looking at all avenues," said Bayless. "I'm not pleased about it and not a lot of other people are pleased about it."
Bayless said that district officials are trying to see if there is anything that can be done to save the bus program at Cunha Intermediate School, since a majority of the estimated 1,000 students who take the bus attend Cunha.
Susan Foley, a parent of a child in the district, has filed a complaint with the federal Office of Civil Rights, asking them to investigate elimination of the bus program. Foley said that the district should have notified families in Spanish and that the district is required to provide transportation to those who cannot attend school without it.
"Education is a property right," Foley said. "When they eliminated busing they took away a property right without a hearing. They need to notify families in Spanish. ... Even if they don't investigate, it's still really rotten. They owed them notice and an opportunity to be heard."
Bayless said he believes Foley's complaint is unfounded.
"Every letter that goes out, goes out in Spanish," he said. "I appreciate her diligence, but I wish she would be more proactive in working with us, not against us."
In the letter Bayless sent out to parents regarding the buses, he wrote that the schools' parent associations would provide information about carpooling.
Dean Skelton, who has a student at Farallone View Elementary School and one at Half Moon Bay High School, has put up an Internet bulletin board for parents to connect with one another to arrange carpooling at http://pro-school.org.
Skelton said he started the Web site for Measure A and then used it for Operation Band-Aid, a grassroots effort to raise money for the school.
"We've got to make the best of things," Skelton said. "Carpooling is an obvious solution. Hopefully, it will allow some matches to happen."
Perhaps frustration with the traffic congestion will cause people to pass a parcel tax and the district will bring the buses back, Skelton said.
"I hope it's just a mistake we've collectively made and the next parcel tax will pass," he said.
Jolanda Schreurs is also involved with the Web site. She hopes that along with carpooling, biking to school could be a solution for some kids.
"As a former PTA president and a mother, I would never want a child bicycling along Highway 1," she said. "But it could be a push for the community to finish the trails to Moss Beach and Montara."
Kirk Halterman and Austin Riba, who are going into ninth grade, often rode their bikes to Cunha.
"It's a great way to wake up," said Riba, who will continue to ride to Half Moon Bay High School. "I think riding would be a great idea because it would get some kids in shape and it's no pollution."
"I enjoy riding my bike," Halterman agreed. "It helps make me stronger for races."
Midcoast Community Council member Sandy Emerson also hopes that this might be a push to finish the trail through Mirada Surf, so that kids can ride their bikes along it and avoid Highway 1. Emerson also plans to look into the possibility of getting county money to get a shuttle that could help alleviate some of the transportation problems.
Walter Martone of the City/ County Association of Governments of San Mateo County said there is some money available for transportation, but any jurisdiction that applies for it will need to come up with matching money.
"Hopefully, we're going to be going back to our board in August to find out about criteria," he said.
Martone added that the money cannot go strictly for school busing.
"It could be a combination," he said. "It could be a shuttle that takes kids to school and then in the afternoon takes the elderly to doctors appointments and at commute times goes to Cal Train or something."
Montara resident Karen Wilson, another member of the Midcoast Community Council, said a shuttle or some type of transportation is vital.
"I can't be the only parent who is completely paralyzed by this," she said. "We're extremely isolated and I don't have a job that allows me a lot of flexibility ... if we had public transportation, that would be one thing, but we simply don't."
On July 24 there will be a transportation forum at the Ted Adcock Center in Half Moon Bay to discuss these sorts of issues. Representatives from SamTrans, the school district, and the Chamber of Commerce will be among the panel members.
"I'm hoping with all heads put together that we can come up with a solution to the problem," said Charise McHugh, president and CEO of the Half Moon Bay Coastside Chamber of Commerce.
SamTrans is prohibited from providing school bus service, said the deputy general
manager at SamTrans, Jim Gallagher, but he added that the bus company will do what it can to help.
"I'm going to pull together operations people to assess what to do over there," said Gallagher.
"These are difficult times, but we'll try and put the pieces together and see how we can help out."
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