Peterman buses sit in a lot at Glen Este High School on June 14, 2015. High school students had the option during the 2015-2016 school year to pay for transportation to then West Clermont high schools from designated elementary schools. The program was discontinued by 2016 for lack of ridership.

By Brett Milam
Editor

A West Clermont roller derby mom wants to help keep the wheels rolling in the school district.

Pictured is Rosie Briggs, who started the Facebook group, ‘West Clermont High School Carpool,” to address the issue of lack of busing in the district.

Rosie Briggs, a mom of two West Clermont High School students, started the Facebook group, “West Clermont High School Carpool,” in 2016 to address the transportation needs of parents and students.

Briggs, or Briggs N. Smack’em, as she’s known to her roller derby team, Black-n-Bluegrass Rollergirls based out of Taylor Mill, Kentucky, is a “desk jockey” at a salon when she’s not racing.

Her favorite quote, as listed on her roller derby bio comes from Yoda, “Do or do not. There is no try.”

And that’s what happened with the transportation issue.

“I believed in being part of the solution, not part of the problem,” she said. “I don’t have a lot of time on my hands, but this is one way I can give back. It was just kind of an idea that popped in my head: here’s the most logical way we can do it, everybody uses Facebook.” 

Facebook became a vehicle for parents to coordinate what neighborhood they’re in, who has room in their car, who can do drop-off, and who can do pick-up, and/or both.

When parents work, especially around the time of school, that creates a problem, Briggs said. 

“I received more attention for this than I ever expected,” Briggs said.

The group has 416 members as of Sept. 3.

Briggs isn’t affiliated with or sponsored by the district, but she did present her Facebook group to the district’s board of education at their August meeting.

The wheels on the bus … stopped

Briggs lives in Milford now, but still drives and carpools her two daughters, a sophomore and a senior, to school. 

Which is a necessity since West Clermont hasn’t offered busing to the high school in a formal capacity since the 2011-2012 school year. 

That’s when the district’s operating levy was defeated, with 18,425 voters against, and 12,326 for the emergency tax.

Full service was returned to pre-kindergarten to eight grade students in the 2015-2016 school year, however.

Previous financial estimates have put the cost to bus the more than 1,000 students who attend the high school at $2.3 million to $3.1 million.

On the other hand, for the district to bus 3,800 students in kindergarten through eighth grade costs $1 million.

The difference in price is primarily due to the state law that requires districts to bus students that live in the district, but attend private schools.

In the fall of 2015, high school students could sign up for a program with Peterman buses to pay for transportation to the then-Amelia and Glen Este High Schools.

However, according to the district, the ridership was so poor, Peterman shut the program down by 2016.

The end goal is the group isn’t as necessary

Briggs sees her role in the Facebook group as mostly monitoring comments that call out bad drivers, and negative issues like that, but also facilitating between parents when she can. That means tagging people to let them know that such and such parent lives in this neighborhood and is available, and so on.

Parents of freshman and sophomore students really need help, Briggs said, because a lot of those students aren’t driving yet. 

“To be honest, it’s been pretty rewarding to just watch things play out, to see the parents coordinate rides and make things happen for their students,” she said. “That’s personally rewarding to me to just see that this group is actually helping people, and helping students get to school.”

After all, it’s one less thing for parents to have to worry about, Briggs added.

“Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. Don’t be afraid to step up and be the person that says, ‘Okay there’s a problem, I’m going to create a solution for the problem rather than gripe about it,'” she said.

Briggs added, “If you complain and not do anything, kids still aren’t going to get to school.”

Facilitating transportation facilitates education, and that has a ripple effect on setting that student up for the future, Briggs said.

“I want to see what’s best for our kids in the community. They’re the future, we have to help them out,” she said.

The ultimate goal, in a way, is that the group isn’t as necessary: Briggs hopes a levy passes in the future that brings back busing to all students.

“I really feel like having busing for every grade in West Clermont Schools will be beneficial for the future,” she said.

To join the West Clermont carpool group, visit the page here. Briggs’ roller derby career is here and here.