new middle school in Clifton Heights<\/a>\u00a0seems to pose challenges for walkers from the Upper Darby Township and Drexel Hill neighborhoods, where students have to navigate busy roadways, trolley tracks and the Darby Creek.<\/p>\nParents said the district should make an exception to the policy because of the safety concerns.<\/p>\n
“When I asked which would be safest for my 11-year-old daughter to walk, they told me to figure it out, which set me off,” Moyer said.<\/p>\n
Eva Althouse’s son also treks on foot to the new school. She has concerns with his route of travel.<\/p>\n
“Go right over the Lindbergh Bridge and up Baltimore Pike, which is all crazy,” Althouse said. “That’s mayhem.”<\/p>\n
She says he has boarded other buses farther from the middle school to avoid the obstacles and traffic-clogged roads.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Darlene Coughlan was busy cutting hair but stopped a moment from her post at Moyer’s Klip Joint to weigh in and give the directions. She offered what sounded like a complicated, meandering list of twists and turns.<\/p>\n
“It’s all the way down Burmont Road, then a right down Bridge Street, over the bridge, up Baltimore Pike, then up Springfield Road,” Coughlan said. “It took her daughter an hour to get home the other day.”<\/p>\n
“None of those routes in my opinion are safe,” Moyer said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There is another, more direct way. But parents say it’s the worst option.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Or go over the river and through the woods,” Moyer said.<\/p>\n
We thought it was a joke at first, maybe a catchphrase. Nope.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One option would be for the middle school children to take a path that goes right across the Darby Creek along some back trails. While it might be a direct shot and the fastest way, parents have even more safety concerns. They say they’re leery mostly because it’s isolated and there are no homes close by.<\/p>\n
“If that’s the route they expect our children to go, they need to maintain it, and they’re not,” Moyer said.<\/p>\n
In a phone interview, Upper Darby Schools Superintendent Daniel McGarry acknowledged growing pains with getting the new middle school up and running.<\/p>\n
McGarry was sympathetic to the parents’ concerns.<\/p>\n
“We are certainly open to continuing to look at transportation and refining things,” McGarry said. “If there is a safety issue, we will try and get transportation for them.”<\/p>\n
While the district has its busing policy, these parents argue it should be subject to exceptions when circumstances such as safety measures apply.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Offer the kids a bus, just offer it to them,” Moyer said.<\/p>\n
\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n
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