Student Forbidden From Taking Saxophone On School Bus
RAYNHAM (CBS) - Andrew DiMarzio can wail on the tenor saxophone. He's also practicing on an alto sax, to learn that too.
But tomorrow morning, he is forbidden from bringing either one to Raynham Middle School on his bus.
"I just want to see them let me on the bus with the instrument," explains the 12-year-old.
WBZ-TV's Jim Armstrong reports
Andrew's parents go to work too early every morning, so the 6th grader has no choice but to take the bus.
Yet a couple of weeks ago, his driver said the sax can't come along. It's a decision the owner of the bus company stands behind.
"If it doesn't fit and there's no place to put it then absolutely. It becomes a safety issue," says Bill Lucini, owner of Lucini Bus Line, Inc. With no empty seats on Andrew's bus, he says, there's simply no room for his sax.
"No one wants to jeopardize someone's safety and that's what this is," Lucini continued. "We're not against music programs. I mean, we're a bus company trying to operate as safely as we can."
Andrew's mom feels like her son is being targeted. She says his bus, number 9, is the only one where big instruments are forbidden.
"This is how we're teaching our kids, that some kids have to follow the rules and other kids and flaunt them", asks Cathy DiMarzio. "Either everyone with these instruments can be allowed on the bus or none of them can be allowed. You're targeting one student, one bus, and that's just not right."
The superintendent of schools and the chairwoman of the school committee both are on the record, saying they wish they could help but they can't figure out what a solution to this problem would be.
But for Andrew's family, it's pretty clear.
According to his mom: "I would like to have Andrew and his sax back on the bus. I have to pay for the bus, I'm more than willing to do that."
For now, though, that doesn't seem likely.
