I recently received the transportation form and letter from the Westbury School District for the 2008-2009 school year. This is the form that parents receive and complete every year to obtain bus transportation. In the past, I filled out the form but did not fully read the letter every time because my child has been attending the same school since he began taking the bus. However, this year he will be attending a different school and that's when a paragraph in the letter caught my attention. It reads "If your child will be attending a different school, or if your address has changed since you last registered, it will be necessary to re-register at the Office of Pupil Personnel Services ... We suggest that you telephone ... to arrange an appointment with one of the registrars." I understand the part about re-registering if you move, but re-registering if your child changes schools? Just to clarify, re-registering means going up to the school administration building in person to show proof (utility bill, deed, mortgage statement, etc.) that you still live where you say you live.

I called the district's transportation office to clarify what I had read and was told that re-registration is required for all students who attend private schools when they change schools. So I asked if this was also the practice for students who attend the district's public schools and was told no. I was told that when students in the district change schools it is handled internally by the school district. This reply was somewhat confusing to me since, according to the school district, they have been trying to address the non-residence issue for a long time. More recently, they even established a Residency Committee to work on the issue. I kept thinking how could this be? This seems like a built-in loophole. Applying a re-registration policy to private school students and not having the same re-registration policy for students attending the district's public schools makes no sense to me.

I attended the Feb. 13 Westbury School District Planning Meeting and when the topic of buses came up, I decided to find out more about this policy. Once again, I confirmed that the policy of re-registration applies only to private school students; and when I asked why, was told that the policy is to prevent parents of private school students from using the district's bus service if they move. Now, what is the likelihood that if parents whose children attend private schools were to move out of Westbury, they would go out of their way to drive their children every morning back to their old address in Westbury, just so they can catch the bus?

From what I understand, every school district in Long Island provides bus transportation to its residents attending private schools located within a 15-mile radius. Not being sure that the school board fully understood and would act on the inconsistency and illogical nature of this policy, I decided to write this letter. I also called two neighboring school districts to inquire about their policy, and both of them confirmed that they do not require their residents to re-register when students in their districts change private schools.

So, if it's not a mandated policy, and only a district policy, I suggest that the district either re-register every student (public or private school) when they change schools, or do it for none.

The Residency Committee's job is to come up with suggestions on how we can reduce or eliminate the number of non-residents who attend the Westbury Public Schools. In my opinion, the first step in this process is to institute procedures that would make it difficult for students to change address without the school district's knowledge and to help flush out the students who are no longer residents. I'm sure that all parents in the district, whether their children attend private or public school, would welcome a policy that would help resolve the residency issue even if that meant that we would all have to re-register when our children change schools. I repeat all because having a re-registration policy for private school only students provides little, if any, benefit to aid in the misuse of school district resources.

Beaumont Jefferson