District 300 to alter Pingree Grove bus routes

Just eight days after streamlined bus routes sparked a wave of complaints from parents in Pingree Grove's Cambridge Lakes subdivision, Community Unit District 300 announced Tuesday some of those routes will change.

Durham School Services, District 300's bus contractor, is creating new stops for Cambridge Lakes students who attend Wright Elementary School in Hampshire, according to a news release.

At the start of the school year, District 300 and Durham moved many stops previously along side streets onto Wester Boulevard, the main street running through Cambridge Lakes.

Parents say those changes make children less safe and pose problems for cars and emergency vehicles that can become backed up behind school buses.

School officials responded that the conditions surrounding the bus stops in Cambridge Lakes are no different from those at other stops throughout the district. They also pointed out the posted speed limit on Wester Boulevard is 25 miles per hour.

While the district did not alter that stance Tuesday, it said in a news release that it was responding to the concerns raised by public safety officials in Pingree Grove, who argued traffic backups would prevent emergency vehicles from passing.

"The condition of the bus stops in Cambridge Lakes meets the same safety standards as stops throughout our district's 118 square miles," District 300 Safety Officer Gary Chester said. "But when Pingree Grove police told us that the stops might make it difficult for emergency vehicles to pass, we decided to work with Durham to revisit the issue."

Parents who sought the changes said they welcomed the news, but also expressed disappointment that the district did not recognize their concerns over safety, but only the issue of emergency vehicle access.

"I'm excited that they're changing," said Marianna Pantelin, a Pingree Grove mother who has been leading the opposition to the new stops. "I'm very disappointed in the way they worded it."

The district is tentatively scheduled to implement the new stops Sept. 20.