Parents ask Pennridge board to reinstate curb-adjacent bus stop after child injured in snowbank

A Pennridge parent asked the board to restore a curb-adjacent bus stop after her son was injured stepping from a bus into a snowbank, and several speakers framed the matter as both a safety issue and a question of inclusion.

Crystal Costling (S14) told the board her son Nathan was discharged from a bus at an assigned stop on Feb. 3 into a snowbank with no clear, stable path. Costling said she has repeatedly warned the district about the location since October and that the next day her son was injured; she requested that the district preserve and review bus camera footage and immediately move the stop back to a safer location adjacent to the curb. “A child should never be injured simply trying to step off a school bus,” Costling said. (Crystal Costling)

Tack Rudy (S9) described how the bus stop functions as a social bridge for his son, who has multiple disabilities, and said the current arrangement denies the child ordinary peer contact. Rudy said his son does not require specialized transportation but needs access to neighborhood peers and urged the district to reinstate the stop so the child can “start and end his day with the children in his own neighborhood.” (Tack Rudy)

Board leaders did not announce an immediate operational decision during the public-comment period. Costling asked that bus camera footage be preserved to inform the district’s response. The comments were recorded during the public-comment portion of the board meeting; the superintendent and transportation staff were acknowledged earlier for snow response work, and the board’s transportation team was identified as a stakeholder in the rezoning and transportation discussions.