Resident tells North Kingstown School Committee depot bus stops leave Catholic students unsafe and out of compliance

Kent Dresser, a North Kingstown resident, told the School Committee on Sept. 9 that recent route changes that place regional Catholic school children at remote depot stops are unsafe and violate state law and district policy. “You’ve put my children in danger,” Dresser said, arguing the district ended a decades‑long practice of door‑to‑door or near‑home transportation for students attending regional Catholic schools.

Dresser said the district notified families only two days before school started about the new depot drops. He said the stops are remote — “two and a half miles past our house down Slocum Road” — and lack sidewalks, crosswalks and appropriate supervision. He said elementary children are being mixed with high school students at those depot stops and left unsupervised.

Citing Rhode Island law and state court decisions, Dresser referenced R.I. Gen. Laws 16‑21‑1 (suitable transportation for public and nonpublic students) and case law he said supports closer stops and supervision, including Joseph Chavez v. School Committee, Town of Middletown and local decisions he said interpret “suitable” to require stops reasonably close to home. He also cited New York and Rhode Island decisions he said interpret suitability to include safe stop distance and supervision.

Dresser asked the committee to restore earlier practices, to seek public input before making major route changes, and to follow timing and safety provisions in the district’s transportation policy. He said he had tried to raise concerns with the administration before school started and received no substantive responses.

The committee did not take immediate formal action during the meeting on Dresser’s request. Several committee members and the superintendent later discussed ongoing transportation problems at the start of the school year (see related article on district transportation).