Lawsuit fails to materialize

Byram-Despite an ultimatum made early last week by local parents, a class action lawsuit has not yet been filed against the Byram Township School Board. On Monday night of last week, some 50 parents of Byram day care children held a meeting to discuss their children's school-sponsored transportation. The meeting was held in response to the Byram School Board's decision to cancel bus pick-up and drop-off service to two local day care facilities - Creative Kidkare and Building Blocks. The cancellation of the busing service is scheduled to take affect at the beginning of upcoming school year. At the Monday night meeting, some of the parents called the Byram School Board's decision to cancel the children's transportation "discrimination" against working parents. Board officials promised parents the issue would be further studied by the school board, however, most parents were concerned that their children would not have busing by the beginning of the school year, which starts Sept. 7. On Tuesday of last week, owner of the Creative Kidkare facility Anneliese Tartell said that a lawyer, working pro bono, would file a class action discrimination lawsuit against the Byram School Board on behalf of local parents if the board failed to set a schedule to discuss the issue further. Tartell and the other parents set Monday July 26 as the deadline for the board to make an announcement. As of press time on July 27, no legal action had been started. In a phone interview Tartell acknowledge the group had not received word from the board and that a lawsuit had not yet been filed. "Everything is on hold," said Tartell, adding that all day long, she had received telephone calls from concerned parents. Tartell said that she had attempted to contact the school board but did not receive a response. Byram School Superintendent Joseph Pezak could not be reached in time to comment on the possible legal action.