Paul Rolly: Bus keeps non-LDS student waiting

By Paul Rolly
The Salt Lake Tribune

Annie Yeager is part of a group of parents in northern Utah County who pool their money to rent a bus owned by the charter Paradigm High School in Sandy to shuttle their children to and from school.
But on Fridays, when Paradigm lets out at 11 a.m., Yeager's daughter Rebecca must wait for three hours to take the bus home because it is busy shuffling the LDS students to seminary classes.
Not only does this policy single her daughter out as "non-LDS," says Yeager, but leaves her daughter in limbo for three hours.
State school officials have other concerns. School Board attorney Carol Lear says a charter school that uses public money and provides a resource to aid religious instruction raises "serious constitutional issues."
And while the bus is insured by the state Office of Risk Management, director Roger Livingston recently wrote to Schools Superintendent Patti Harrington to tell her that Risk Management will not cover school buses rented to private parties. Once a private entity takes
control of the bus, Livingston said, the state loses its governmental immunity protection, which puts caps on liability claims.
Paradigm director Celia Johnson said the charter school by law is not responsible for transporting students to and from school. The school contracts with the parents for rent of the bus to transport their children. It also contracts with a group of parents to transport their children to an LDS seminary building for "released time."
But Yeager points out the school's policy manual says parents may opt to rent the bus for transportation to seminary "if the time does not conflict with previously planned school bus activities."
Yeager says the contract with the northern Utah County parents constitutes a "previously planned bus activity.
She has filed a complaint with the American Civil Liberties Union.

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