Parents and daycare owners press Riverhead board over change to busing for state‑licensed childcare

At the Riverhead Central School District board meeting on Aug. 20, several parents and a daycare owner urged the board to restore or clarify transportation eligibility for children attending state‑licensed childcare programs after a July 16 notice said some stops would no longer be served.

Megan McNish, a parent, told the board she and other families learned the district would no longer provide busing for children at a nearby licensed daycare, Ready, Set, Grow, even though the facility is roughly 0.4 miles from the elementary school and has been served for about 21 years. "We're just asking the Board of Ed to, please, please reconsider or to consider an extension or something for the transportation policy," McNish said.

Rebecca Hubbard, owner of Ready, Set, Grow, said her program has been licensed since 2001 and has long relied on district transportation. "I'm at a dead wall," Hubbard said, describing repeated attempts to find alternative staffing or transportation and saying parents rely on the daycare as an extension of their families.

Parents and daycare providers said the district has historically allowed some pickups at licensed childcare locations even if those locations fall outside a child's elementary attendance catchment. Several speakers cited Section 390 of the Social Services Law — the state law that governs licensing for childcare programs — and asked why the district now restricts pickups to locations within the same catchment zone for routing consistency.

District staff explained routing and capacity constraints as the rationale for the change and said the Transportation Department has been reviewing lone stops that required buses to traverse the district for only one or two students. A district official said the Transportation Department has reached out to affected families and childcare providers over the past year and that there were "two outstanding issues" at the time of the meeting; the district noted one family had requested a written opinion from the district's lawyers and that staff would follow up.

Board members and commenters urged affected families to submit written requests. Riverhead RAZI coordinator Kimberly Wilder advised parents to put concerns in writing to the superintendent and, if necessary, pursue clarification through State Education channels.

No board vote was taken; parents were told the Transportation Department had been working with families and providers and that the district intended to be consistent in applying routing and catchment rules.

"It puts our parents who we've been, you know, helping through all this emotional roller coaster," McNish said, "we're asking help at this point."