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Parent urges Catalina Foothills to provide smaller buses while neighborhood roads are improved
Summary
Samuel Rogers told the board that about 50 neighborhood children face unsafe walks to the bus stop and that prior district evaluations were limited and inconsistent with day-to-day bus operations; he asked the district to use small buses as an interim, lower-impact solution while community road improvements proceed.
Samuel (Sam) Rogers, a local neurologist and parent, addressed the Catalina Foothills Unified School District board during public comment on April 7, urging immediate steps to improve students’ safe access to bus service.
Rogers said roughly 50 children in his neighborhood must walk up to a mile to reach the assigned bus stop, and he described a pattern of what he characterized as limited or contradictory internal evaluations that led to repeated denials of route adjustments. He said a public records request showed district staff privately discussed and calculated walking distances, which Rogers contrasted with public responses saying the district would not change the route. He also noted a disciplinary incident that occurred on the walk home from the stop to argue the district cannot assert disciplinary authority for off-campus conduct while denying responsibility for safety on the same route.
As a compromise, Rogers asked the district to deploy smaller buses—already used in other districts with challenging terrain or dense neighborhoods—as an interim measure while the homeowners’ association and neighbors pursue road improvements that would allow standard buses to enter the neighborhood. He said small buses are insured and priced for home-to-school transport and would demonstrate collaborative, good-faith progress on the issue.
District representatives did not offer a substantive response on the record during his three-minute comment beyond thanking him for the remarks. Rogers’ comments were recorded as the meeting’s lone in-person public comment that evening.
