Transportation Survey Will Begin May 5

Students in six grades within Newtown’s public schools will be asked to take a survey created by The Newtown School District Ad Hoc Transportation Committee that will help the school district verify which students will be riding the school bus versus using personal transportation during the 2008-09 school year.

Students in sixth grade at Reed Intermediate School, both grades at Newtown Middle School, and freshman at Newtown High School will be invited to take the survey during the week of May 5–9. Sophomores and juniors at the high school will receive the same survey on Monday, May 19.

To make the collected data as accurate as possible, the survey also gives students the opportunity to provide transportation information specific to their sports seasons, after-school activities, and car pooling arrangements. Parents are encouraged to discuss next year’s specific yearlong transportation arrangements with their children in advance of this survey. High school students in particular should note that with the temporary decrease in high school parking spaces due to the onset of construction within the next few months, parking permits will be very limited next year.

Accurate survey information will help the school district control transportation costs, and ensure the safe transportation of all middle school and high school students during the high school building project to begin this summer.

This survey is part of an ongoing review of the transportation system by the school district’s Ad Hoc Transportation Committee. By law, all children are guaranteed a spot on the bus. However, specific and personal transportation data on each middle school and high school student will help the school district allocate its buses more intelligently and efficiently. The committee’s goal is a streamlined, fiscally responsible bus system with acceptable route lengths.

The Newtown School District Ad Hoc Transportation Committee was formed in the fall of 2007 to address a bus overcrowding issue in the Middle Gate district. The committee comprises Board of Ed members, parents, and district staff. In addition, three bus owner-operators have donated their time to the committee at no additional expense to the district.

The mission of the committee was to fix the Middle Gate busing problem without adding an additional bus, which had been previously requested by the district transportation department. Through extensive work rerunning the routes at Middle Gate and Head O’ Meadow schools the committee eliminated bus overcrowding at Middle Gate, and improved or maintained route times at both schools without the expense of an additional bus.

That success spurred the committee and the district to apply the same redesigning process to the middle school and high school routes for the upcoming school year, again to eliminate the need for spending additional funds on additional buses. That is why the committee is now surveying middle school and high school families to ensure that they have very detailed and accurate information about ridership on that tier. The survey information will be combined with information coming directly from the owner/operators to give the committee as accurate a view of the tier one routes as possible.

Committee members are Board of Education members Lillian Bittman and Anna Wiedemann; parent Lorraine Santore; Phil Carroll and Carey Shelierloh, bus driver/owner-operators; Michele Voight, MTM owner-operator; Transportation Director Tony Dilonardo; Kathy Hydeck and Maritza Nezveskym, transportation staff members; school district Business Manager Ron Bienkowski; and Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson.

Parents who have any questions or concerns are encouraged to contact the transportation office 426-7613 or NezveskyM@newtown.k12.ct.u