toledoblade.com --

Mark Wasserman is too young to drive a car to school, but not too young to drive a tractor.

The 13-year-old eighth grader said he drove a John Deere farm tractor to school yesterday because budget cuts mean he can no longer ride the bus to Lake Middle School.

Bus transportation service was eliminated for all Lake High School students and any child in the Lake Local school district who lives within two miles of school, a move designed to save the financially struggling district $32,235 this school year.

The busing reduction went into effect Wednesday, but the schools were closed then because of inclement weather.

Because Mark lives on Pemberville Road in Lake Township about 1 1/2 miles from the middle school, his father, Robert Wasserman, told him to drive the tractor to school as long as he is unable to ride a bus.

"I'm a single parent and that's the only way I have to do it," Mr. Wasserman said.

He works a graveyard shift at a construction job and feeds his livestock at 5 a.m. before going to bed, so he is asleep when his two children are ready to go to school in the mornings.

"I don't like the idea, but Mark is very experienced," the elder Mr. Wasserman said. "If he wasn't experienced, I wouldn't have let him drive the tractor."

With bus service reduced, Rhonda Asperger accompanies daughter Sarah, 7, to reading class at Walbridge Elementary School.
( THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON )

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As long as they can safely operate the equipment, obey traffic laws, and stay under 25 miles an hour, there is no law barring a child from operating farm equipment on a roadway, said Sgt. Joe Luebbers, a spokesman for the Ohio Highway Patrol.

Lots of other Lake Local parents were forced to rearrange their schedules yesterday to drive their children to school.

Walbridge resident Rhonda Asperger, 42, said she asked to work the 4-9 p.m. shift at a hair salon at Woodville Mall so she can drive her 15-year-old daughter to and from high school and take her 7-year-old daughter to an after-school reading class.

"I had no other choice so I could get the kids to school," she said.

"I can't really go to work and leave to pick the kids up," she said.

But Superintendent Paul Orshoski said eliminating busing was necessary because voters rejected an income tax and an emergency property tax levy in February. Voters also rejected tax requests in August and November.

"We're going to state minimum busing requirements because we are in a dire [financial] situation," he said.

Transportation Supervisor Tammy Tapley estimated that about 250 students who previously rode buses must now find other ways to get to school under the district's new transportation rules.

Lake Township trustees have expressed concerns about the safety of those students who had to find alternative ways to get to class, which could include walking to school along sometimes busy roadways that have no sidewalks.

This prompted Lake Township Police Chief Mark Hummer to monitor Lake's main campus yesterday morning with several other township officers and officers from the State Highway Patrol's Walbridge post.

The main campus consists of Lake High School, Lake Middle School, and Lake Elementary School, which are all on Lemoyne Road near Route 795, a four-lane, divided highway with traffic lights. The district's other building, Walbridge Elementary School, is in that village.

Chief Hummer said the biggest problem yesterday was the morning traffic congestion on the roads near the campus, adding that he plans to discuss ways to alleviate the problem with trustees at a special meeting today at 4 p.m. in the township administration building, 27975 Cummings Rd. off State Rt. 795.

Trustee Richard Welling said the trustees plan to discuss potential action they can take to ensure student safety, including litigation if necessary.

Contact Erika Ray at:
eray@theblade.com
or 419-724-6088.

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