Parents challenge district’s school bus report

Advocates for later start times offer numerous critiques of school department’s bus analysis

By Josh Bickford
Posted 1/31/18

A recent transportation report from the school department boasted later pickup times for middle and high school students in Barrington, but some residents say there is still plenty of room for …

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Parents challenge district’s school bus report

Advocates for later start times offer numerous critiques of school department’s bus analysis

Posted

A recent transportation report from the school department boasted later pickup times for middle and high school students in Barrington, but some residents say there is still room for improvement.

Two years ago officials added two school buses to the district’s fleet, for a total of 11 buses. The additional buses resulted in bus pickup times for the district’s older students closer to 7 a.m. and not 6:30. 

But while some parents are pleased with the change, they quickly add that other enhancements could be made.

Pam Lauria has two children at Barrington High School and is a supporter of later start times for the district’s older students. She wrote in a recent email that East Greenwich schools were able to achieve later start times by moving to a two-tier bus schedule, adding “but that was never under consideration in Barrington because the exorbitant number of dollars and buses the administration attached to that proposal.”

Ms. Lauria wrote that East Greenwich formed a transportation subcommittee and made the switch to the two-tier system, which cost about $70,000 more in its first year. 

“A cost of $400,000 was attributed to school start time change for transportation costs, per the (Barrington) administration, but they never had any real data to back that up,” she wrote, later adding, “Inflated bus costs have been used as an excuse to delay start time change for years.”

Barrington resident Maura Mulligan McCrann was a member of the ad hoc school start time implementation committee. In a recent email, Ms. McCrann wrote that she and others on the ad hoc committee began asking the school committee and superintendent’s office to create a transportation subcommittee back in the fall of 2016. 

“I think the district needs to better assess their needs, find out who is using the bus, offer opt outs, condense stops, etc. and then see what ridership capacity is like,” she wrote. 

(Barrington Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore announced at a recent school committee meeting that his office was going to work with a consultant who would investigate the district’s transportation system for more efficiencies.)

Ms. McCrann wrote that the later pickup times announced by the school department are a step in the right direction, but added “7 a.m. bus pickups are still very far from medical evidence suggesting most adolescents should be waking up closer to 8 a.m.”

She wrote that many parents in Barrington drive their children to school in order to allow them a few more minutes of sleep each morning.

“Given the morning BMS and BHS buses were operating at 35 percent capacity in December, it is clear that most parents continue to drive their children to school, even though buses come later,” she wrote.

Buses half (or more) empty

The recent transportation report showed that in December, morning buses for high school and middle school students were only 35 percent full, while the afternoon buses were 52 percent full. (Hampden Meadows School buses — grades 4 and 5 — had the lowest ridership, at 21 percent.)

“The buses idle with BMS children twice per day, at BHS doing drop off and pick up,” wrote Ms. McCrann. “So while the ride time is less, kids on buses at 7:03 for a school that doesn’t start until 7:45 isn’t ideal. East Greenwich used their bus efficiencies to not only shift to two tiers, but they have different buses for middle and high school. I’m not saying that is ideal, just another model.”

Amy Segal wrote that the early start times at the high school are likely part of the reason ridership on morning buses is low. She wrote that her son, a sophomore at the high school, often finds his morning bus with plenty of open seats and the afternoon bus filled to capacity.

“One must wonder why the enormous discrepancy in numbers between going in and coming home?” she wrote. “I would guess this is because the bus pickup time is so early, students find another way to get to school since they don’t need to be there until 7:45. I would not rate this a success in the least. His bus route needs an additional bus going home, and the buses need to start later in the morning.”

Ms. Segal also challenged some of the pickup times listed by the district in its transportation report. She wrote that her son’s pickup time is listed at 7:14, but is, in fact, much earlier. 

“It is still 6:55, same as last year,” she wrote, later adding that her son’s bus is at the school before 7:15 a.m.

“Very early, when you consider school doesn’t start until 7:45.”

Questioning the cost

Barrington’s Scott Douglas supports a later start time for middle and high school students, as well as better pickup times and shorter bus rides. 

In an email to the Times, Mr. Douglas wrote that he would also like to see a closer look at the district’s data regarding the cost of buses. He added that the district has yet to prove its projected school start time price tag for transportation.

Mr. Douglas agreed with the idea of having the school department bring in a third party to analyze the transportation system. 

“We should be humble enough to take good ideas wherever we can, and East Greenwich should be thanked for showing us a possible way to get to a two-tier system (which would make life better for HMS and all families in town!)” he wrote. “The district ought to do all it can to see what we can port from their experience. Even if it turns out there’s barriers or some reason it can’t apply here (in part or in full) we would at least have done our due diligence.”

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