The three new Mars School Board members should get up to speed on the district's bus stop issues, particularly the proposed stop at Fox Trot Drive and Route 228.

The Fox Trot neighborhood should be exempted from a policy that the district intends to fully implement, effective with the start of the 2008-09 school year. That policy will prohibit bus stops in cul-de-sacs.

A number of housing developments, including the one on Fox Trot, were given a reprieve from the rule for this school year, but the district said the rule would be fully enforced next school year.

The new board members should weigh the arguments surrounding the sought-after Fox Trot exemption and be the catalyst for trying to convince their board colleagues to make the change Fox Trot residents are seeking — before next school year arrives, not after an accident or close call.

Rita Campbell, a Fox Trot resident, merits praise for stepping forward to continue the effort under way on behalf of the safety of children in her area. She attended a school board meeting last Tuesday to review her stance on the Fox Trot-Route 228 stop for the benefit of the three new board members, Ross McConnell, Christine Stroup and Christopher Ola.

While the board took no action on Campbell's proposal Tuesday, the three new board members should visit the proposed Fox Trot stop and weigh the conditions there against what exists at the current stop inside the cul-de-sac.

The board, school district administration and the district's bus contractor, Tim Myers, are correct in trying to negate dangers inherent in buses turning around in cul-de-sacs. However, in the case of Fox Trot, the district, in its desire to negate a danger, would, in fact, be creating a more dangerous situation if the stop is moved to heavily traveled Route 228.

The arguments made at Tuesday's meeting by Campbell, including that there is no safe place for children to wait for a bus at the intersection, are too valid for the board to ignore.

Campbell was right in reminding the board of an incident that occurred at the intersection on Jan. 2: A tractor-trailer swerved to miss two stopped cars waiting to turn into Fox Trot, crashed through guardrails and careened down an embankment.

Fox Trot is east of the Mars Alliance Church. It is the only street in the neighborhood.

Campbell said if the incident had occurred a half-hour earlier and the neighborhood had not had this year's exemption from the bus stop change, kindergarten pupils would have been waiting at the bus stop.

"It would have ended in tragedy for our children," she said.

Government units and school districts are wrong to implement policies without making provisions for valid exemptions. Unfortunately, it appears that is the case in regard to Mars' cul-de-sac bus stop rule.

The three new board members should step to the forefront and be leaders in bringing about the sensible decision that the Fox Trot neighborhood needs and deserves.