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New hotel planned near Mohegan Sun Arena

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High School Football 2019

<p>WRIGHT TWP. &#8212; A change in bus routes for Crestwood School District has at least one parent concerned. Children at St. Jude&#8217;s school &#8212; a Catholic school of the Scranton Diocese &#8212; are now scheduled to ride with high school students from the district, Mark Kurlandski of Wright Township said, and his two children will be picked up 30 minutes earlier than previously.</p><p>School board member James Costello confirmed the change will put younger students from St. Jude&#8217;s on the same bus with older students from the district, but noted the district already has been doing that with students from other nonpublic schools. &#8220;It&#8217;s not new for the district, but it is new for St. Jude&#8217;s students,&#8221; he said, &#8220;It has to do with the availability of seats.&#8221;</p><p>State law does not require school districts to provide transportation to any students. But if a district does transport its own students, it is required to offer transportation for students living in the district who attend a nonpublic school as long as that school is within 10 miles of district boundaries.</p><p>That means Crestwood must offer to transport students to St. Jude&#8217;s, which is within the district and a bit more than a mile from the high school, and to St. Nicholas/St. Mary School in Wilkes-Barre, nearly nine miles from the high school, as well as to other nondistrict schools in the 10-mile range.</p><p>Kurlandski, of Wright Township, said he has two children, ages 6 and 8, attending St. Jude.</p><p>&#8220;I for one am not a fan of having my very young daughters riding with and listening to what a group of high school students will be discussing,&#8221; he wrote in an email, &#8220;I think this is a risk that this school district should not be taking.&#8221;</p><p>Kurlandski said it is also unclear when students will arrive at St. Jude&#8217;s, and how they will be supervised if the earlier start means an earlier arrival.</p><p>Crestwood has been struggling with bus issues since last October when a state audit found the district did not have required clearances on file for drivers with Rinehimer Bus Lines, one of the companies contracted to provide transportation. Further review found Rinehimer itself lacked many of the required records. The district canceled the contract with Rinehimer and worked out departure agreements with the superintendent and another administrator, and hired G. Davis Transportation for this school year.</p><p>The problems didn&#8217;t end there. Rinehimer has sued the district for breech of contract, a claim the district flatly denied, and rumors swirled regarding the ability of G. Davis to provide enough drivers &#8212; a claim Board President Bill Jones said was unfounded.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

St. Jude parents upset over Crestwood bus schedules