No Bus And No Civility From District 109: Op-Ed

Written and submitted by Maria Moreno, along with neighbors Magdalena Nodland and Karen Solovy
A relationship between a teacher and parents is of vital importance in a community. One could argue that the relationship between the District and parents is of equal importance to the effective operation of both the Board and the District’s schools.

Unfortunately, this has not been the case for several Deerfield families. The ordeal started back in the summer of 2016 when two families separately approached the District 109 Transportation department to inquire why their homes were denied free bussing when they met the requirements.

My family was told it did not meet the cut-off distance. I decided to pursue the matter further and started inquiring how the process works. I discovered my neighbor had free bussing for one school year of their eldest children but were requested to pay for the subsequent years of their child and their youngest children because the district re-measured at some point and determined their house was no longer at the appropriate distance. I was confused – did their house or the school move???

Before we purchased our home, I called District 109 and was told the home qualified for free bussing to District 109 schools. In December 2016, I reached out to the 109 Transportation department because I drove, biked, and walked the distance to school and my house was 1.5 miles away. At that time I was told to refer to the District manual which stated I had to be OVER 1.5 miles to qualify. Again I was told I did not qualify and case closed.

Apparently, several other families also went through this process and had walked away at this point. I pursued the matter and discovered Illinois law states that homes AT 1.5 miles AND OVER qualified for free bussing. District 109 updated its policy to reflect the correct language. Yet that was only the beginning of my lengthy ordeal.

I contacted the Assistant Superintendent for Finance & Operations who oversees the Transportation department, and who proceeded to speak to me like a child. He told me I was wrong and offered me a financial aid package if I had “such a problem” with the transportation fees of $570 per child. He proceeded to inform me this is the “way things are done in Deerfield”, they will not change and “the Board is not concerned with bus transportation” and they only offer what they have because they must by law. In January 2017, I contacted the Superintendent of District 109 Michael Lubelfeld. I explained what was happening and he directed me back to the Transportation department.

Many months went by, e-mails and calls back and forth in which my house was either 1.2 or 1.3 miles away from the school or either 400 or 700 feet short. I started working with my neighbors and we found the same inconsistencies with our homes. One e-mail from the Transportation department confirmed they were only measuring to the Stop sign of the school even though

Illinois law clearly stipulates that the “distance shall be from the exit of the property where the pupil resides to the point where pupils are normally unloaded…”

We went to countless Board meetings waiting to be allowed to speak for only 2 minutes because we were never granted a face-to-face meeting despite multiple requests. I reached out to the Board several times throughout this process and only one of them ever responded. We never had a Board member talk to us about our situation nor respond to our e-mails. Agree or not, like us or not, we are still Deerfield residents, District parents and Deerfield taxpayers, who are they working for and what are their responsibilities?

District 109 claimed they had driven the distance from our homes many times. During the September 2017 Board meeting, we got the “final” denial to our request for re-visit of our measurements. Dr. Lubelfeld told families to appeal to the Regional Office of Education and this was the final decision of the Board, the District and its attorneys.

I decided to buy a measuring wheel and reached out to the 109 Transportation department to ask for the make and model of the wheel used to measure our homes. I was met with aggressiveness, yelling and phone hang-ups. I was asked to “go away”. I finally got the information, bought the wheel, and my neighbors and I proceeded to walk the distance several times and documented the walks to show we made or passed the 1.5 mile mark. We presented a detailed package with pictures to the Board on January 8, 2018.

I did not receive any acknowledgement of our package so I went to another Board meeting on January 22. I approached Dr. Lubelfeld and he informed me I would not get any verbal nor written response to my package of information and to go to Regional Office of Education. The Regional Office of Education informed me that this was NOT correct procedure and that their office had nothing to do with this matter. I had been sent on a wild goose chase and it had been 18 months since I started this process of simply trying to get what was fair and required by law.

Once again I called Dr. Lubelfeld and he got openly upset that I was still pursuing this matter. He then called me a bully. I was shocked and dismayed that the Superintendent of my children’s school would react and treat any parent this way. I had always treated him with respect and professionalism. I couldn’t help but wonder if he would speak to a father in the district the way he was speaking to me.

A friend got me in contact with another District parent who happened to be an attorney and offered to intervene with the District’s legal counsel. Only after attorneys got involved was I “granted” a walk with the District to determine the correct measurement with the Regional Office of Education to serve as an impartial “judge”.

My neighbors reached out to request the same for their homes yet were denied. Dr. Lubelfeld then proceeded to insult my attorney (another 109 parent), said I was harassing him and called me a bully for the second time. Although I advised the Board of this, I again received no response. In a time when many are openly trying to teach their daughters about abuse in the workplace and how to treat everyone with respect, apparently it is allowable for Dr. Lubelfeld to speak to the mothers in his district any way he sees fit.

This ordeal has caused anger and anxiety, especially because members of the Board for District 109 should have demonstrated respect for rules and procedures and remember what they were elected to do. The Illinois Association of School Boards Code of Conduct states standards for ethical and effective behavior for all school board members. One of those standards states “I will respectfully listen to those who communicate with the board, seeking to understand their views, while recognizing my responsibility to represent the interests of the entire community."

My measurement walk is scheduled for mid-April but this is no longer about whether we meet the mileage qualification or not. This is about how this whole ordeal was handled, how as a district parent and taxpayer, I was disregarded, disparaged and disrespected. There is no place and no excuse for what has transpired. Apparently being considerate and cooperative, and maintaining professional and appropriate relationships with parents, is too much to ask of the District Administrators.

By the way, if there are other Deerfield families that think they meet the 1.5 mile measurement requirement but have been denied free bussing, I am more than happy to loan you measuring wheels.