Amherst resident asks board to provide bus service to Saint Francis High School

Jason Quinn, an Amherst resident, told the Amherst Central School District Board of Education that he is asking the board to approve bus transportation for his son, Sawyer, to attend Saint Francis High School.

Quinn said the district’s transportation office applies a 15‑mile cutoff under Education Law §3635 for busing to private schools and that Saint Francis lies "fairly outside this boundary by 2.4 miles using highways and 1.6 miles using surface roads" according to his Google Maps measurement. He told the board that transporting his son would take about six extra minutes in the morning compared with travel to the other nearby private high school cited by the district and requested the board consider an exception.

Quinn framed his request as an accommodation under Section 3635, saying the 15‑mile cutoff is "an arbitrary restriction" that does not reflect local traffic and that other districts, he said, including Williamsville, have made exceptions. He said he and his son’s mother are taxpaying district residents and asked the board to consider shared or alternate pickup points if necessary.

Board members did not take action during the public comment period. The board’s public comment rules were read before Quinn spoke (district Policy 1510), and the superintendent’s office noted that comments involving personnel or confidential student information cannot be addressed at the meeting. No formal motion or vote on Quinn’s request was recorded at the meeting.

Next steps: The transcript records Quinn’s request and cites Education Law §3635 and Policy 1510; any formal board consideration or vote on an exception would need to be scheduled as an agenda item and recorded at a subsequent meeting.