Pittsburgh-Area Family Punished for Choosing Charter School

Fauna Shaffer Butera, mother of two young boys just miles to the northwest of Pittsburgh, opted to enroll her sons in Young Scholars Charter School. She was shocked to learn of the transportation option afforded by her school district of residence.

Northgate School District offered Fauna bus passes for her five and seven year old, which would require the following route:

Her children would have to walk over a block in Avalon to get the PAT bus on California Avenue at 6:30 a.m. and take it to downtown Pittsburgh, where they would cross a busy intersection to the Wood Street T Station and get on the T.

Once the children get off at the Killarney Station, they first have to cross the T tracks and then navigate on a foot path through a tunnel, which cars come through one at a time because it's so narrow.

After the tunnel, the children have to walk nearly a mile up a hill in a neighborhood with no sidewalks until they reach Young Scholars Charter School at the top.

Here's the full story from WPXI news: