By Michael D. Clark, Enquirer Staff Writer
and Sue Kiesewetter, Enquirer contributor

A new $31.2 million school opened Tuesday less than 500 yards from the Barnard family home - but the Barnard kids won't ever walk to the school, because of the danger.

Instead, first-grader Trey and sophomore Adrienne will get on the bus in front of their house and ride the short distance to the new Monroe K-12 School in Butler County.

"I don't understand how you can have a new school and a school zone with no sidewalks," says Jennifer Barnard, Trey and Adrienne's mom. A 6-inch shoulder along busy Yankee Road hardly suffices for a safe walkway, she says. "There is so much truck traffic on this road, and those semis would plow you over."

The Monroe school isn't the only one built for bus and car access - but not for students on foot.

An Enquirer survey of school districts in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky found that 35 of 42 public schools built in the past decade, or now under construction, have no sidewalks connecting the nearest neighborhood.

The lack of sidewalks might be academic except for one thing: As schools increasingly face budget cuts, buses are among the first to go.

Almost 6,000 high school students in the region lost bus service this year after voters defeated levies in March and August.

Many students now walk on busy, potentially dangerous roads to get to and from school.

Scott McDuffy's two children go to Lebanon's new $14.7 million Bowman Primary School. He might want to walk them the half-mile to school, but not until sidewalks replace the grass and dirt roadside paths leading to Bowman now.

"I know a lot of these schools are being built out in the middle of nowhere, but they should have sidewalks for the safety of the kids," McDuffy says.

In the Trenton area, dozens of Edgewood High students walk in grass or dirt along narrow, rural roads where cars and trucks reach speeds of 55 mph or more. In Fairfield, high school students who were bused last year are dodging traffic this year along Route 4.

"There's a lot of kids who walk home," says Kelli Cleary, a 14-year-old Fairfield High School student who walks 1.5 miles between school and home every day. "Half the kids are walking in the street because there's not enough room in the grass."

No money for sidewalks

NO SIDEWALKS

These 35 schools, all built in the past 10 years, or currently under construction, have no sidewalk access to neighborhoods: BUTLER COUNTY Fairfield Schools: Fairfield Senior High School; Fairfield East Elementary Ross Schools: Ross High School (under construction) Madison Schools: Madison Junior/Senior High School Lakota Schools: Lakota East High School; Lakota West High School; Cherokee Elementary; Independence Elementary; Plains Junior School; VanGorden Elementary. Monroe Schools: Monroe K-12 School. WARREN COUNTY Lebanon Schools: Bowman Primary; Lebanon High School Kings Schools: South Lebanon Elementary; Kings Mill Elementary; Columbia Elementary Little Miami Schools: Little Miami High School Springboro Schools: Springboro High School; Springboro Middle School HAMILTON COUNTY Indian Hill Schools: Indian Hill High School; Indian Hill Elementary Sycamore Schools: Blue Ash Elementary CLERMONT COUNTY Batavia Schools: Batavia High School Milford Schools: Mulberry Elementary; Meadowview Elementary; Pattison Elementary; McCormick Elementary Richmond Schools: Locust Corner Elementary Williamsburg Schools: Williamsburg High School Northern Kentucky BOONE COUNTY Camp Ernst Middle School (under construction) CAMPBELL COUNTY New elementary in Alexandria (unnamed, under construction KENTON COUNTY Summit View Elementary; Summit View Middle School; Twen Hofel Middle School; Caywood Elementary (last two under construction) Source: Enquirer research

So why don't school officials, who spend millions on new buildings, spend money on sidewalks?

They say they rarely have money left over after buying land and financing new school buildings. The increasingly common failure of school funding levies hasn't helped, either, they say.

The cost of new sidewalks varies according to the roadside terrain. Lebanon City Manager Pat Clements says his city is seeking state help to build sidewalks to Bowman and is figuring on costs averaging $5-$6 a square foot.

Schools also usually don't own properties along roads leading to their new buildings. That land might belong to cities or townships that have no requirement for sidewalks.

Lebanon School Superintendent Bill Sears, a 35-year veteran of Ohio schools, says older schools in more established communities, such as Cincinnati Public Schools and suburban Hamilton County schools, were built in the middle of residential areas where the need for pedestrian walkways was obvious.

Sears says Lebanon school officials would love to have built Bowman and the new $36 million Lebanon High School closer to residents in Warren County. But, he says: "We couldn't afford the cost of the land in the city. Schools had to go where they can afford the land."

Sears expects that sidewalks will be built as homes go up nearby. Currently, all Lebanon students are offered bus service.

Lebanon resident Michelle Hogan wishes her family didn't have to wait. She'd like to walk her young kids the half-mile to the high school's recreation fields, but can't because Drake Road is so busy.

"We have a lot of parents around here whose kids could walk to the high school."

Kentucky schools, too

Many Northern Kentucky school parents have the same safety concerns about their newer schools, even though Kentucky's school financing system has spared schools from the budget cuts suffered in Ohio.

For instance, many Kenton County schools are located far from neighborhoods, and all children ride buses, county schools architect Robert Lape says. The Kenton County district is building two new schools and wanted to include sidewalks, but they proved to be too expensive, he says.

Some older school buildings, in rural areas or smaller communities, lack pedestrian walkways, too.

"Having no sidewalks is very problematic. Students are walking in yards and on the roads," says Rhonda Bohannon, superintendent of Three Rivers Schools in western Hamilton County. That district's high school is the only one of five buildings with sidewalks.

"Our buildings are old, and most have been around since the 1920s and 1930s," Bohannon says. The lack of sidewalks at two of Edgewood's five schools has been a concern since Edgewood High School opened along Ohio 73 in 1970 and the adjacent middle school opened 21 years later.

But it's especially worrisome this year, when busing has been cut and 156 new middle and high school students have enrolled.

"It's always been a safety concern," Edgewood superintendent Tom York says.

Though belated, some sidewalk construction has eased parents' concerns.

Construction will begin next month on new sidewalks around Edgewood High School, thanks to a $212,000 Community Block Grant fund from Butler County.

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Enquirer reporters Karen Gutierrez and Cindy Kranz contributed to this story. E-mail mclark@enquirer.com