Resident questions school-bus citation program; district says citations are city-run

During public comment at the Oct. 23 meeting, resident Victor Mazziotti described receiving $300 citations for alleged school-bus infractions and said the city's appeal backlog meant contested cases could take more than a year to resolve. He told the board the fines impose financial difficulty on lower-income residents and urged the district to investigate whether it receives revenue from citations.

District administration responded that the school district does not administer the bus citation program, which the staff said is run by the City of Allentown under a municipal ordinance. Staff said the district receives no revenue from the citations and that questions about enforcement, citations, court processing and appeals should be directed to the city and its vendors. Several administrators offered to discuss the matter with the resident after the meeting.

Ending: The district reiterated it does not control the citation program and suggested the resident raise the issues with city officials; administrators offered to follow up offline to clarify the district's noninvolvement and to assist as appropriate with information requests.