Scores of parents and students waving yellow signs reading “Bring Our Buses Back” packed the school board meeting tonight, hoping to sway the board to change its mind about ending busing to magnet schools. The crowd was so spirited that it started chanting “Bring Our Buses Back” as the crowds dissipated. Jose Bojorquez, who represents student government on the school board, echoed their comments. He and his brothers are bused to magnet schools, Bojorquez said.
“My mom can’t give him a ride. We’re not capable of doing that,” he told the board, adding, “Getting rid of the magnet transportation will put many students’ dreams away.”
Other parents protested the idea of making small schools share principals, bearing signs with a cartoon person split down the middle. Outside the meeting, teachers union President Camille Zombro and other union representatives decked out in red T-shirts handed out flyers charging that Superintendent Terry Grier and the school board “are balancing the budget on kids and teachers” and calling the budget plan, which hinges on concessions from unions, “a ploy to divide our school communities.”
Check back throughout the evening for updates on what happens at the board meeting.