As Problems Continue —

School Officials Hope For Improvement In School Bus Schedule

By Larissa Lytwyn

According to Head O’ Meadow parent Kiki Iannazzo, her 8-year-old daughter typically returns home around 4:15 pm, about 55 minutes past her 3:22 pm dismissal.

The Iannazzos live seven minutes from the Boggs Hill Road school.

“It’s ridiculous!” said Ms Iannazzo. “My daughter is cranky and starving. She has no playtime — and lots of homework.” Ms Iannazzo is quick to note that as a teacher in Danbury, she is well aware of the importance of academics, as well as the intricacies of educational scheduling.

“But this is simply not acceptable,” she said.

In addition, Ms Iannazzo’s son, a student at Newtown High School, contends daily with an overcrowded bus. “He’s a big guy — six feet!” she said. “And you cannot fit three adult-sized people on those seats.” Safety issues concern her greatly, especially during the winter, when slush and grime make school bus aisles notoriously slick.

Ms Iannazzo’s complains were just another variation on a theme the school board has been hearing from parents since school began one month ago.

The four- to three-tier system shift, saving the town approximately $124,000, consolidated middle and high school students. Middle school students now begin their day as early as high school students, at 7:30 am. The move was made to maximize ridership on the middle school and high school buses, since many high school students drive to school.

Now, school officials say, the overcrowding is likely a result from the unforeseen rise of student enrollment districtwide.

“As of September 19, we have 216 more students in the system than last year,” said Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff. “We had a projection of 171 students, and that’s what we budgeted for.” These 45 additional students are dispersed through a variety of grades and locations across the town’s hilly 60-square-mile terrain. Thirty of the 45 are attending the middle school and high school.

Since school began in late August, administrators have struggled to cope with problems associated with the new bus schedule, including ill-timed traffic lights and an absence of crossing guards, to the increase in the number of students and road construction.

“We are working to best utilize what we have,” said Dr Pitkoff. In addition to rerouting and streamlining school dismissal times, the district recently added a 65-seat passenger bus, a 16-passenger “half-bus” working six hours a day and an eight-passenger van transporting students who reside at the farthest reaches of the district, all at a cost of about $65,000.

“It’s getting better,” said Cathy Mazzariello, assistant principal of Sandy Hook School. After the 3:22 pm dismissal, the school’s approximately 700 students generally board the buses and leave the school within a 20-minute time frame. “It was the same [time frame] last year,” said Ms Mazzariello. “So we’re doing all right.”

Despite these adjustments, many parents, such as Ms Iannazzo, continue reporting bus delays and overcrowding. Board members carefully documented the bus numbers and associated problems.

School Board secretary Margaret Hull, a strong advocate for later high school start-times, resisted the implementation of a four-tier system because of the physiological impact she said the tier’s start times would have on high school and middle school students. Ms Hull and other concerned parents noted that this impact is detailed in medical research, including reports by sleep clinicians at Danbury Hospital and state Commissioner of Education Theodore Sergi.

The Commissioner’s Position Statement On Time In Relation To Student Achievement, released in January 2003, concluded, “We expect teachers and schools to be more productive than ever before, focusing not only on the intellectual development of students, but also on their social, emotional and physical development.”

It also recommends that “districts must take into consideration research that indicates that different age groups learn best at different times if the day. While adolescents are more alert later in the day, younger children typically are more alert in the early morning.” A memo dated September 10, 2003, recommended school principals and board members to adopt each recommendation during the 2003–2004.

“As you know,” Ms Hull said during the September 19 board meeting, “I have been strenuously opposed to [the three-tier system] from the outset — though its clear that a tireless and determined effort has been made to make this three-tier system work.”

Board members, including Chairperson Elaine McClure and Andrew Buzzi, have consistently reiterated that their support of the three-tier system was based on knowledge that it would not seriously impede the quality of service delivered.

Despite the problems, the three-tier system can and does work, according to Heather Marrero of First Student, a commercial bus company. Ms Marrero worked with transportation director Mary Kelly for several hours last week. Referencing the increase in student numbers combined with the intricacies of a new busing system and the vast geographic layout of Newtown, Ms Marrero estimates that the remaining busing problems should be resolved by mid-October.

If they are not, Ms Hull said the board should strongly consider reinstating the four-tier system because “it’s proven to work.”

According to Dr Pitkoff, the reinstatement of a four-tier system would require the addition of four to six more buses and cost the town another $400,000 on top of the additional $65,000 allocated for new buses and a van in the past few weeks.

He said the administration’s goal, within the three-tier system, is to reduce maximum travel time to 45 minutes. He said the goal is realistic, considering the town’s geographic scope. He observed that the system is improving every day.

Like other board members and administration figures, Dr Pitkoff has spent the last few weeks visiting schools during the beginning and end of the day, studying their arrival and dismissal processes.

“The dismissal time at Reed Intermediate and St Rose is much better,” he noted.

He expects that the remaining problems — such as Head O’ Meadow students who live about seven minutes away but take about an hour to get home — should be resolved as rerouting efforts continue. Rerouting should also ease congestion on middle and high school buses.

Newtown Police Chief Michael Kehoe recently hired a crossing guard for Newtown Middle School, who was scheduled to begin September 25. An additional Newtown High School crossing guard is still needed, however, as both schools open simultaneously.

In addition to the implementation of crossing guards to ease congestion, bus drivers and owner/operators have urged parents to avoid dropping off students in bus lanes.

“We are all working together to fix this problem,” said Ms McClure during the September 19 board meeting. “The system has been unacceptable, and now we all have to make it work.”