Parent raises bus‑safety alarm as Toms River board approves 2025–26 routes with hazardous designations

A parent identified at the meeting as Whitaker told the Toms River Regional School District Board of Education that on the first day of school a substitute bus driver let about 17 elementary students off more than a mile from their home at an intersection where Route 9 merges with Route 166, forcing children to cross a highway to reach their house.

"They dropped them off at Wave And Tiller, leaving them to have to cross the highway by themselves," Whitaker said, asking the board to have transportation staff contact the family and to show empathy for their safety concerns.

The board proceeded to consider several routine agenda items, including approval of the 2025–26 transportation routes and hazardous route designations. During public comment Whitaker said the family had called district numbers multiple times without a satisfactory response; she said the parent documented several phone calls to transportation and to Pine Beach Elementary.

Board members moved and approved the transportation routes and hazardous route designations by roll call. During the public comment exchange a district representative reported that district transportation staff told the family the assigned stop was within the two‑mile radius used for bus routing; the meeting record does not show a direct, on‑the‑record remedy for the specific complaint presented.

The matter was not resolved publicly at the meeting: Whitaker urged direct outreach to the family and a review of how substitutes are instructed to follow assigned stops; the board did not announce a follow‑up at the microphone.

The board also approved related routine items during the same session, including a week‑of‑respect resolution and the district safety and security plan.