[Update] Avon Parents' Push Back on DATTCO Bus Stop Safety Gets Results

Update (2:27 p.m., Oct. 3)

Avon parent Jenna Ryan said that DATTCO called Wednesday afternoon to say that they will be reassigning the stop at Foxcroft Run and Burnham Road to a different bus route. 

Original Story (10:49 a.m., Oct. 3)

The Barton and Choi families on Foxcroft Run were two of nearly 100 households in Avon who complained that their kids' new bus stop was unsafe after the bus company consolidated stops.

Luckily for them, six weeks into the school year, the Foxcroft Run stop was one of about 22 requested bus stop changes honored to date, as was Heather Satlof's request down the road on Burnham. Her daughter, Lilli's bus is now stopping in front of her house so that she doesn't have to walk down Burnham across traffic. 

But Teresa Barton and Eun Choi said Thursday that even though they are getting their stop back, it unfortunately means their Burnham Hollow Road neighbors at the stop the Foxcroft kids walked to Thursday will lose theirs. The mothers spoke to media outlets, asking for the district to keep both the Foxcroft and Burnham Hollow stops for the safety of the children.

Burnham Hollow Road mother Britt Melnick learned the information Thursday morning when two TV news crews and Patch walked with the Foxcroft children and parents over a street to their current stop. 

"I just don't understand why it was a big deal," Melnick said. "This is very confusing. I don't understand why. They should just communicate what's going on."

Melnick's children will soon have to walk to Foxcroft. Unless the Burnham Hollow children travel in the same direction of the cars, that means crossing the street to walk against traffic and then crossing again to get to the Foxcroft stop.

"We've always waited here. I mean, I was never notified of anything different, so beginning of the school we just waited for the bus and the bus came. She (the bus driver) never seemed to make a big deal about stopping, " Melnick said. 

There are no sidewalks or breakdown lanes on Burnham Road. The right-of-way is overgrown to the curb, close to a wooded area between the streets, making walking off the road difficult. Burnham Road narrows when there are snowbanks in the winter, the mothers said. The road, which is near Country Club Road, minutes from the library, sees high volumes of traffic and many parents have expressed concerns with cars speeding there. 

Choi said she also has reached out to the Avon Police Department about her safety concern of walking to the bus on Burnham Road, but she said that she was told that it's a school district and bus company issue.

Jenna Ryan, who lives on Westridge Drive, also was there Thursday to support Choi, a friend of hers, and Barton. Both Choi and Barton speak English as a second language, so Ryan has been reaching out to the district and DATTCO for help on their behalf. She has also been communicating with other parents who have the same concerns on other streets. 

Ryan said that the district and DATTCO told her that the bus needs 100 feet of clearance in order for its flashing lights to be seen and that the distance is too short between the streets. She suggested to officials that the two stops be split into two bus routes that go in that direction to solve the problem, but she said that the district and bus company haven't taken her suggestion.

Until a week into the school year, the DATTCO bus was picking the children from both stops like last year. But one day, the driver told Choi and Barton that she wouldn't be stopping on Foxcroft anymore. Choi said she was confused about where her son's bus stop was when she went online to check, as it listed an address on Burnham Road.

Melnick had no complaints about her kids' stop before but had contacted the district on behalf of her Foxcroft neighbors losing their stop. There were more kids from the street taking the bus than Burnham Hollow Road, she said.

"I just didn't understand. If I lived on Foxcroft, I would be mad and I just couldn't figure out why they'd get rid of that stop," Melnick said of the initial elimination of the Foxcroft stop. 

The Foxcroft families, who had voiced their complaints to the school board and Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations John Spang. While they will soon have their stop back, they want a solution that will work for everyone, including the Burnham Hollow Road families. 

Patch could not reach Spang immediately for comment Thursday because he was out of the office for training.

He told NBC Connecticut Wednesday that DATTCO's safety experts have walked the stops in question to identify any safety issues. He also told the news station that the bus stop consolidation wasn't because of the budget. 

Check back on Patch later to see the video of our visit to the Burnham Hollow bus stop. 

Do you think your child's bus stop is safe? Tell us your story.