{"id":268796,"date":"2026-08-20T11:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/268796\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T11:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:44:09","slug":"whitehall-coplay-reviews-new-charter-school-transportation-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/268796\/","title":{"rendered":"Whitehall-Coplay reviews new charter school transportation policy\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Whitehall-Coplay School District has told charter school parents that it will delay for two weeks its controversial plans to place some teenage students on public transportation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An Aug. 10 letter sent to parents, a copy of which was obtained by The Morning Call, said the district would temporarily place students on yellow buses in order to monitor the safety of each student\u2019s commuting routes. The delay comes after multiple families alleged that their children taking public transportation would risk long waits, their safety and a loss of extracurriculars.<\/p>\n

The district did not respond to multiple requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Charter school officials, parents and state government representatives, meanwhile, said they continue to work with the district to attempt to reverse the decision to make teens living in district boundaries and attending charter schools use LANTA buses, a move that the district said would save money amid a 2026-27 budget<\/a> requiring hefty tax increases and staffing cuts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At an Aug. 10 special meeting primarily focused on 2027 graduation planning, the district revealed that the costs for charter school transportation is $300,000 a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe absorb it,\u201d school board President William Fonzone Sr. said of the transportation costs at the meeting. \u201cWe can get back from the state a certain amount to cut into that cost, but realistically, we can realize the savings if this whole thing goes through.\u201d<\/p>\n

State Sen. Nick Miller, who is among the lawmakers working with the district, said in an email that in a recent meeting he highlighted safety and logistical concerns raised by parents. At a July school board meeting, parents argued in public comments that their children would risk missing extracurriculars and class time due to long commutes, and some expressed uneasiness riding public buses.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery parent deserves to know their child has a safe and reliable way to get them to and from school,\u201d Miller, D-Lehigh, said in the email. \u201cThe district has made it clear that student safety is its top priority as this transition moves forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania law \u201cgenerally requires school districts to provide transportation to charter school students residing within the district, as well as to students attending charter schools located within 10 miles of the district boundary,\u201d according to Miller\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

However, there are \u201ccertain exceptions,\u201d including a student\u2019s age and distance from the school. The closest charter school to Whitehall Central \u2014 a LANTA bus stop in the center of the district linking routes across the Lehigh Valley \u2014 is 1 mile away, Innovative Arts Academy.<\/p>\n

The state Supreme Court ruled this year that charter schools<\/a> could end regular bus service for charter students if they provide a free alternative.<\/p>\n

Commuting to charter schools via public transportation is not uncommon in the Lehigh Valley. In Allentown School District, district charter school students in grades 6-12 who live more than 2 miles from their charter school use LANTA services, according to the district\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have experience supporting such partnerships,\u201d LANTA spokesperson Darryl Lightner said in a statement, adding that the organization is willing to provide further resources to help students plan their trips. He did not respond to follow-up questions.<\/p>\n

Charter schools continue pushback, while district completes \u2018hazardous walks\u2019 audit<\/p>\n

At Lehigh Valley Academy Regional Charter School, CEO Susan Mauser has worked over the last three weeks to communicate with 16 school families affected by the change. She said meetings with the district were productive, but the school will continue to push for a reversal of the policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are looking at all of our options,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The district also announced in the letter that select students will be provided permanent yellow bus transportation because of hazardous walk routes or unreasonable commute durations.<\/p>\n

But other safety concerns remain.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going from a community having a bus driver that has their clearances and is directly responsible for everybody on the bus\u201d to working with public transportation drivers managing many nonstudent commuters, Mauser said.<\/p>\n

Lori Cover, a parent who spoke out against the policy concerns at a July meeting and wrote to Miller, said her son is now exempt from public transportation due to medical conditions and having to wait on busy Mechanicsville Road. She said some parents are using doctors\u2019 orders to clarify the safety risks of commuting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m feeling very relieved for my son that he\u2019s safe, and I\u2019m glad that Whitehall and LANTA are working to improve the safety and routes for all of the students,\u201d Cover said.<\/p>\n

Other parents are still waiting, such as 12-year Whitehall resident Natalie Voll; she said if her daughter\u2019s LANTA route stays the same, she may have to step back from favorite activities, such as reading the morning announcements at Lehigh Valley Academy.<\/p>\n

She was also skeptical about having her daughter transfer LANTA buses in busy areas, such as the Allentown Center City stop, and a \u201cmissing student protocol\u201d announced in the district\u2019s letter. The letter explained that LANTA can check rider history to track where students board the public bus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our right by law that we have a choice if we want them to go to to charter school, or which school they want to go to,\u201d Voll said.<\/p>\n

Andreas Pelekis is a freelance writer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Whitehall-Coplay School District has told charter school parents that it will delay for two weeks its controversial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,16851,227,433,182,139,28,432,1654],"class_list":["post-268796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-coplay","tag-education","tag-lehigh-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-top-stories-tmc","tag-whitehall-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}