A “major safety issue” has been identified with the road conditions in the Forest Park mobile home park in Warsaw. Because of that, Warsaw Community Schools has informed parents that children in the park will be picked up by bus in the parking lot behind J.C. Penney’s.

Cheryl Cook, transportation director for Warsaw Community Schools, informed parents via letter on Friday that, starting this morning, a temporary bus stop is established for students on both elementary and secondary routes who rely on transportation from Forest Park. The temporary bus stop is necessary, according to Cook, because snow has resulted in narrow streets in the park making it too risky for students.

Cook said a situation arose last week forcing her decision to establish the temporary bus stop. “A child slipped from a snow bank as the bus was leaving,” she explained. Fortunately, the child was not injured, but Cook recognized the situation could have been tragic if the child slid under the bus. “There’s no room for them to walk” once they are let off the bus. “Our concern is for the safety of the children; keeping kids safe is our first priority,” Cook added.

The park does not fall under city maintenance and the roads are considered private, but Cook recognizes that, regardless of who is responsible for plowing, this winter’s heavy snowfalls have resulted in unusual circumstances. Not only are places to push the snow limited in the park, Cook said residents there often park along the roads making it impossible for a school bus to maneuver around.

Cook explained, “I’ve had to stop and get out to ask people to move their cars … it’s getting more difficult to get back in there.”

Students on both elementary and secondary routes must now – until further notice – walk to or otherwise find transportation to the J.C. Penney’s parking lot. The furthest walk any child would have is 8/10ths of a mile. “No one thinks their child should have to walk, but it falls within our 1-mile guideline,” said Cook.

Cook also encourages parents to understand that, because Forest Park is all private property, buses do not have to include those roads on the route. “We don’t go into any trailer park,” she explained, “we have a general stop. It’s only because of a special needs student that we would go onto private property.”

At least parents at Forest Park can rest assured that this newly established bus stop is only temporary. Cook said, “It’s a no win situation for us because we have been going back there for years so we’ll have to continue to do that. But, the original design of that park was to have three entrances and exits and that doesn’t exist.”

The road conditions in Forest Park will be checked again today by Cook, who noted she will be in contact with the park manager and will continue to evaluate the conditions at least every day or two. We left a message for park owner Aaron Wellington, but he did not return our call.