Carpentersville families lose bus service

To some, government services can be summed up thusly: As long as they continue, people are happy; when they stop, people get upset.

The transportation struggles of a few Carpentersville families this school year is a case in point.

For years, students who lived in the area north of Huntley Road and east of Randall Road could catch a bus to Algonquin's Westfield Community School, according to families who live there.

Before the start of school this year, the district sent parents a notice saying their children would have to find another way to get to school. The move struck some parents as abrupt and arbitrary.

"I don't think anybody allows their child to walk because nobody feels it's a safe route," said Jill Reynolds, mother of a first-grader at Westfield. "My child, if he walked, would have to cross eight or nine streets."

Fatima Kurth, a Kimball Farms mother who has a son and daughter at Westfield, is in the same boat.

"Now, we have to figure out who's going to pick her up and drop her off," Kurth said of her daughter. "A 5-year-old shouldn't be walking around by herself."

Community Unit District 300 officials say they sympathize with parents but the explanation is quite simple: Kimball Farms now has sidewalks on which students can safely walk to school, located less than 11/2 miles away.

"The development in question, until last year, did not have a sidewalk that went from their development to Westfield school," Superintendent Ken Arndt said. "That was completed last year. In my opinion, the area does not qualify for transportation."

Board President Joe Stevens said he has asked district staff to review the route again to make sure all the proper procedures were followed. But he doesn't expect changes.

"I understand what they're saying. I don't think I'd want my child walking that far, either," Stevens said. "If we made an exception for them, we'd have to go back and look at every route in the district. We could be adding millions to our expenses."