WHITEHALL, Pa. – Six charter schools are suing the Whitehall-Coplay School District and the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
The suit is in response to the district recently ending school bus service for kids 12 and up in charter schools as a cost-saving measure.
The policy is a cost-cutting move for the district, but local charter school leaders and parents say the policy needs to be reworked or even reversed.
After years of taking the bus to the Executive Education Academy, April Crouthamel learned last month her kids were going to have to find another ride.
“We found out about two weeks or so before the school was going to start that we were not going to have bussing, which gave us time to attend the school board meeting, but didn’t give us time to much of any other planning,” said Crouthamel.
At that meeting, Crouthamel and several other parents pleaded with board members not to cut bus service and argued LANTA vouchers weren’t enough.
“I simply asked, even the people on the board, I said, ‘Would any of you put your kid on a public bus at 12 years old?’ And they all just looked at me,” said Crouthamel.
Crouthamel said the public bus would be especially problematic for her son.
“My son has a medical condition. Is LANTA going to help him out if he passes out on the bus?” said Crouthamel.
But despite those concerns, the board went ahead and passed the new policy, forcing Crouthamel to drive her kids to and from school.
“We always have to be available to drive our kids to school. My daughter needs pickup like three times a week,” said Crouthamel.
The school district offered to transfer any kids who had transportation issues to public school, but Crouthamel said she shouldn’t have to do that.
“My kids have been going to Executive since kindergarten. I’m not going to interrupt them with what they like,” said Crouthamel.
Crouthamel is now one of six parents, and six different charter schools, suing the Whitehall-Coplay School District and the Pennsylvania Department of Education. They’re arguing the new policy violates the Equal Protection and Education Clauses of the Pennsylvania Constitution. Crouthamel said charter school students should have just as many rights as anyone else.
“School choice is definitely, seems to be something that people want to go away, and it’s not going to go away,” said Crouthamel.
69 News reached out to the Whitehall-Coplay School District but were told they don’t comment on pending litigation.
The first hearing in the case is scheduled for September 29th in Harrisburg. At that hearing, the plaintiffs will be asking for an emergency injunction to restart bus service until the case is resolved.