(Ed. note: The following letter was written to the Manhasset School District's Director of Transportation and is printed here at the writer's request.)

This is a letter of deep gratitude to the Manhasset School District's Department of Transportation and your drivers. However, it is now written with a greater sense of urgency since our district's school budget did not pass and I fear that the department may be the subject of budget cuts.

My daughter, a second-grader at Munsey Park School, underwent knee surgery on March 18, 2004. The surgery was more invasive than planned and she came home that night in a full leg cast. As the next few days passed I began to deal with the implications of having my daughter in a full leg cast and using a wheelchair for six weeks. I called the Manhasset School District's Department of Transportation and was told that a bus with a wheelchair lift would be provided to transport my daughter to and from school each day. I was further assured that the drivers assigned were those who had previous experience with these buses and the safety procedures for securing the wheelchair and therefore my daughter's safety within the bus. Additionally, the procedures would be reviewed with the drivers.

As the weeks went by, I felt very secure knowing that the drivers, Brian and Mark, were taking good care of my daughter at such a vulnerable time for all of us. When the cast was removed and my daughter still required the use of the wheelchair until her leg would get strong enough to fully walk, I was assured that the wheelchair access bus would be provided for as long as necessary.

Now, it is eight weeks since the surgery, she is using a knee immobilizer and is back on her regular bus route. Your drivers, Richie and Brian, are taking care that my daughter is seated up front and can safely enter and exit the bus.

I cannot thank you and the Department of Transportation enough for your assistance during this difficult time. This experience has given me a greater appreciation of how important the work of our Department of Transportation and your drivers is. These are the men and women who we personally get to know and trust, as we entrust the safe handling and care of our children to them twice a day. I hope that no other parent has to go through the same experience as I did in order to fully appreciate the value of the district owning and maintaining our own fleet of buses, and employing the drivers and mechanics.

I also happen to know firsthand that drivers of some local bus companies are not as well trained as our drivers. I know of a driver who works for one of these Long Island bus companies who was assigned a wheelchair access route. There was an unfortunate incident wherein the wheelchair fell over as the bus turned. Thankfully, the child was not seriously hurt. An investigation proved that not only were the driver and aid on the bus not properly trained but the mechanism used to secure the chair to the bus was defective and/or not properly functioning. If we outsource our transportation services, this type of situation could happen in Manhasset.

Safety in the transportation of all of our students should be a primary concern of all Manhasset parents and the school board, as they begin the process of presenting another budget to the voters, and all future decisions regarding the status of our transportation service.

Alanna P. Finamore