The Howard County school board refused yesterday to give bus service to about 25 Laurel Woods Elementary School students, saying their walking route to school along a hilly section of North Laurel Road poses no danger.
Board members voted 4-0, with one member absent, to accept Superintendent Michael E. Hickey's decision not to provide bus service to the North Laurel Park area students.
Members said the path that the students take to school -- a narrow, dirt pathway along North Laurel Road, north of Cissell Avenue -- is safe enough for the students to use.
"I didn't feel it would be absolutely unsafe to walk," said Karen Campbell, one of two newly elected board members. "I'm sympathetic for younger children, but at some point we have to say the parents have to take responsibility. Out where I live, there are no sidewalks anywhere, [and] children still . . . walk to school."
Parents had contended that the path is too dangerous, especially during rush hour, because drivers can't see children until they come to the top of a hill on North Laurel Road and then have to brake quickly.
In denying the appeal, board members also said that, if they agreed with parents in this case, they would have to give bus service to students elsewhere. Students in seven other school districts walk to school under similar conditions, according to a letter written by Dr. Hickey.
Stephen Bounds, the other newly elected member, said he walked the path by North Laurel Road with his 10-year-old son and found no problem with that stretch of road.
He also said the county's policy of requiring those elementary school students who live within a mile of their schools to walk is appropriate, since several other school jurisdictions require students to walk longer distances.
"We're kind of in the middle of the pack," he said. "What we're doing is certainly a reasonable policy and better than some other jurisdictions."
Board member Linda Johnston suggested that the school system implement special lessons to teach students how to become more aware walkers.
Pat Flynn, a Laurel Woods parent who attended the hearing, expected the board's decision but was nonetheless upset over it. "We've had so many close calls on that road," she said. "We're lucky a child hasn't been hurt."
She also was upset that the public school system spends money busing more than 500 parochial school students when it can't provide transportation to some of its own students.
The board says the county requires such transportation.
"A lot of it has to do with money, because they don't want to spend the money on busing," she said.
The Laurel Woods appeal marks the fourth one the school board has heard since the beginning of this school year from parents seeking bus service for their children on the basis the walking paths were unsafe.
The board has turned down all the appeals, saying routes pose no danger to students. In some instances, the board has said it feared making a change that would have to be applied across the board.