The Barrow Co Board of Education has passed a new rule that any child living 1.5 mile radius from their Middle/High School will not be provided any bus transportation! The new PRZone was decided during the 2011/12 school year and still have not notified parents. It is suspected that this was keep quiet due to the recent reelections! We need help from the community and media attention to help over ride the PRZone. It is extremely upsetting that the Board of Education has no concern regarding the safety of our children. First I would like to point out the risk & dangers our children will be facing everyday if they are forced to walk to & from school. There are no sidewalks for the children can walk on. Many parents have to work and do not have the means to provide transportation before and after school. Many of us do not have family that live in Georgia that can help out. Also the amount of reckless and/or inexperienced drivers (adult/teenagers) on the road put our children in a high risk of getting hit by a vehicle or abducted. Is the Board of Education willing to provide police officers / crosswalk volunteers at every cross point and at each subdivision within 1.5 miles of the school? If not how do you expect the children to arrive home safely? If so the cost for a traffic officer is $35 per hour for a 2 hour minimum. This does not seem more economical than picking up our children and transporting them safely to their school(s). Did the Board research the statistics about of the many children who are abducted while walking to and from school or being struck by a vehicle every year in America? Does the Board realize over 110,000 pedestrians are injured every year in the United States and almost 60,000 pedestrians are killed. Statistics show that school age children and the elderly are the most vulnerable. In fact 41% of pedestrian fatalities nation wide occur between 3 and 4 in the afternoon. (Which is the time school lets out). Secondly there are over 150 sex offenders in Barrow County and over 470 in Gwinnet County! The Gwinnett county line is only 2 miles from Haymon Morris Middle School. Child abduction usually occurs within 2 miles of their home! There will be days when we have severe inclement weather. What will the children do then? There are plenty other safety issues when children walk home from school but are too many to list. These are just a few safety issues that I am pointing out. A portion of our school tax is to provide transportation to and from school! If the Board of Education can not provide as simple a thing as bus transportation then we should get a refund of our tax dollars. Did the Board consider making one stop at the entrance of every subdivision within 1.5 miles from the schools instead of bypassing them all together? The bus drivers have to pass by the excluded routes to get to the children that are still being provided with transportation. There is a meeting in front of the Board of Education coming up this Tueday night (8/7/12 at 7:00 PM). If you wish to speak to them you have to fill out a form and have it in to their office by noon on 8/3/12. I have the form that you can fax to number 770-867-4540 if you need one. thank you for any support and the children thank you !!