Administration: School Transportation Improving, Three-Tier System Works

By Larissa Lytwyn

After weeks of difficulties with school transportation, Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff said that the three-tier busing system works and that remaining problems are being resolved.

Dr Pitkoff admitted that mistakes were made during the three-tier’s early planning stages, particularly the underestimation of incoming students and the level of service needed to accommodate them. However, he continued, subsequent rerouting adjustments and streamlining dismissal times at St Rose and Reed Intermediate School have eased transportation woes.

The assignment of one last crossing guard at St Rose School, in addition to the ones serving Hawley, Newtown Middle School, and Newtown High School, has helped relieve traffic congestion.

Even with the $65,000 addition of two and a half buses, Business Director Ron Bienkowski said the Board of Education is actually running a half-bus short of the number of buses budgeted for this year.

Over the past few weeks parents and board members, notably Margaret Hull, had proposed returning to the four-tier busing system used last year if remaining problems were not corrected by October 15. Transitioning back to the four-tier system would, however, cost $400,000 above the recent $65,000 two-and-a-half-bus addition, according to school officials.

“Going from a four- to three-tier system saved about $141,000,” Dr Pitkoff said. “To go back to the four-tier now would be much more.” Contract issues with MLM Transportation and the maintenance of bigger buses, he explained, as well as rerouting considerations would create an increase in expenses that is larger than the originally projected savings in going from the four-tier system to the three-tier system.

Shortly before Dr Pitkoff’s tenure, owner/operators on the Transportation Committee conceived the three-tier system. During budget deliberations this past June, the three-tier system was introduced earlier than expected as a way to save the town $141,000. Mr Bienkowski said that the school year was “unusual” this September because of the three-tier’s last-minute approval and “the administration’s difficulty in notifying all parties involved.”

But, as Heather Marrero, a representative from commercial bus company First Student illustrated during a recent Board meeting, the three-tier system is an effective one. Ms Marrero was paid a $1,375 fee for her services.

Parents of children transported in the last tier have expressed concern over their exhausted kindergarteners reaching the bus stop as late as 4:30 or 4:45 pm. This year’s average travel time after dismissal is 36.7 minutes — only slightly above last year’s 34-minute average. “It’s the [elementary school] group that is concerned about the lateness,” said Dr Pitkoff. The school scheduling itself is responsible for this, he noted, not the three-tier system.

Another issue has been overcrowding. “Overcrowding actually infers that we are over the legal limit of ridership,” said owner/operator Paul Miles. “But that is not the case.” While some buses are at times “uncomfortable,” he said they are not illegally overloaded. Further, overcrowding eases rapidly as the route progresses. When kids are dropped off in the afternoon, he said, they gradually move to clearing seats. Morning congestion, he said, is brief, occurring after the last stop is made, just before the school is reached.

A recent complaint from high school parents over overcrowding, Mr Miles explained, was actually due to unique circumstances. One bus under emergency repair reduced the number of buses used in transportation that day, he explained.

Additional problems affecting transportation this year have ranged from traffic lights changing so rapidly that a single bus could not pass to street repaving and construction.

“We had hoped to have the last of the problems resolved by mid-October,” said Dr Pitkoff. “And it looks like we are already there now.”