School Board Discusses Transportation, Snow Delay Procedure

By Eliza Hallabeck

Following a meeting with All-Star Transportation, Board of Education Chair Debbie Leidlein said at her board’s meeting on Thursday, November 8, the company is looking to add buses to its Tier 2 routes.

School board Vice Chair Laura Roche said six buses not being used by All-Star for its Tier 2 routes are being looked at to help make those routes shorter. Doing so, Ms Leidlein said, would hopefully affect the Tier 1 bus schedules, making them start a bit later in the morning. Ms Roche estimated the changes to the Tier 2 routes could be made in three weeks.

The board also discussed a proposal by All-Star Transportation before the Planning and Zoning Commission that asks for approval for a special permit to install a 5,000-gallon above-ground diesel fuel storage tank on the southeast corner of the 24-acre 31 Peck’s Lane lot, where the firm has set up its Newtown headquarters.

The tank would be used to fuel the firm’s buses. That fueling currently occurs at the town Public Works Department at 4 Turkey Hill Road. As part of its contract with the town, the town supplies the firm with fuel for its buses.

Ms Leidlein asked Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson why All-Star Transportation would move away from a procedure the town has used “for so long.”

Placing a fuel tank at its Peck’s Lane location, Dr Robinson said, is All-Star Transportation’s decision. The cost for the district would be the same, said Dr Robinson.

“All the other vehicles in town fill up [at the Public Works Department] too,” said Dr Robinson, “and we’ve never had a situation where all 44 buses fill up at the same time.”

Dr Robinson explained having all of the buses fill up at once is All-Star Transportation’s practice.

“It strikes me this would be easier to audit,” said board member William Hart, noting All-Star Transportation would be responsible for accounting all the gallons of gas that go to fill the school buses.

The Planning and Zoning Commission will next pick up the topic at a planned November 15 public hearing.

Two-Hour Delay Is The New Standard

 The school district’s two-hour delayed start of school following the November 7 nor’easter also marked the start of a new practice, according to Dr Robinson.

“It worked very nicely this morning,” said Dr Robinson.

While discussing whether to delay the start of school with other area superintendents at 4:20 am on Thursday morning, Dr Robinson said it was decided to make “[a two-hour delay] our standard operating procedure.”

In an e-mail to parents earlier on November 7, Dr Robinson wrote, “Today, it was apparent that our procedure of a 90-minute delay was inadequate for our road crews and school personnel to get the roads, parking lots, and sidewalks clear, plus it was still snowing. Rather than cancel, I expanded our delay to two hours rather then 90 minutes, which was enough to make a difference. This also enabled our buses that go into the magnet school and Abbott Tech in Danbury to align with the rest of our transportation network.

“So, going forward I will be using a two-hour delay as the normal procedure when a delay is necessary. It is my hope that winter from this point forward will be mild and this procedure will be seldom needed,” the email said.

Throughout the day on Thursday, Dr Robinson said she heard many responses that a standard two-hour delay was a good decision, and she also heard “otherwise” from three people.

“I just think this is going to work much better,” said Dr Robinson.