February 19, 2002
School and Daycare
Question from Connecticut, USA:
My four year old niece (who has type�1 diabetes) has a babysitter who resides in another town, just over her school district’s town line (not even a half mile down the road from the town sign), and the school has told my sister that, next Fall, they will no longer drop my niece off at this house even though it is not out of the way, the bus drives down that road every day, and the bus driver has always turned around in the babysitter’s driveway.
Is there anything in the law that protects my niece? She is very comfortable at this babysitter’s house, and this babysitter knows exactly how to care for her. It seems out of line for the school to be making such a decision especially because they have been already providing the transportation.
Answer:
The school district has no legal (or moral) obligation to transport a child after school outside of the district boundaries. So, if it were me, I would attempt to use honey to resolve this situation instead of vinegar. Have your sister contact the district’s director of pupil transportation. Have her point out that the school bus already goes past the district boundary to use the babysitter’s driveway to turn around so there is no added cost to the district to make this accommodation to your sister. If they turn her down, the sitter may have to meet the bus at the last stop on the run inside the district line.
DSH
