Dennis Meyers, with the State Department of Education, presented his findings to the school board Tuesday night after studying all of the district’s routes electronically, and even riding several routes himself. Where the district has the most problems, he said, was with State regulations requiring a minimum of .2 mile between stops; but, he noted, the problem was common among all districts in the state.
“Everybody has some of these,” he said. “You’re not the only one.”
The district is also exceeding the State’s .3 mile law, Meyers said, which says that for any child living less than .3 mile from a main road, it is the responsibility of the parent to deliver that child to the stop on the main road – in other words, the school bus is not required to turn off the main road and stop in front of that residence.
In addition, Meyer said, the district has some violations of the mile-and-a-half law, which states that the district is not responsible for transportation for students living closer than a mile and a half from the school they attend.
“You have, in your district, where you’re exceeding all three categories,” Meyer said. “But you’re not alone. Everyone is.”
The school district may elect to make these non-mandated stops, Meyer said, but at a price of $1.32 per mile, or 20 cents per stop, paid to the State Department of Education.
“If the buses are making a lot of stops like that, I’m sure a parent requested it,” Board Chairwoman McDaniel said, “and I’m sure that between (former district transportation directors) Danny Miller and Ted Manning, they would have checked it out.”
Meyer also noted the issue of delivering students to schools long before schools take in, and recommended the double-tier Bell Schedule.
The Bell Schedule mandates that no regular bus route will pick up children before 6 a.m., with the exception of special needs bus routes. At a school with an instructional day beginning at 7:40 a.m., buses will arrive between 7 and 7:20 a.m.
For a school with an instructional days beginning at 8:15 and 8:30 a.m., the arrival window is 7:40 - 8 and 7:40 - 8:15 a.m. respectively.
“This can help with students not being at school an hour in the morning before school takes in, and it can help in the afternoon,” Meyer said. “Will it help every child? No, it will not. Nothing ever helps everything.”
Meyer also noted the district Transportation Department’s Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system could help streamline efficiency and cut costs to the district.
The system is set up to track and record virtually everything about a school bus, including where it’s going, its speed, when the door opens and closes, and even if the oil needs changing.
McDaniel confirmed reports that the district purchased the GPS system several years ago – and continues to pay a fee to maintain it – but that it has never quite been fully implemented.
“The GPS on the buses were just like the cameras (on the buses),” McDaniel said, “whenever we had an issue, the camera wasn’t on, the tape wasn’t in – there was always some excuse. It’s the same thing with the GPS.”
The GPS was instrumental in recovering a stolen bus several years ago, McDaniel said, but the board continues to have question regarding its full implementation.
McDaniel also said the district superintendent, Dr. Patrice Robinson, plans to implement some of Meyers’ recommendations before the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year.
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