District 13 Reducing Bus Stops to Save Money

In its effort to reduce the school budget, District 13's Board of Education voted this spring to make sweeping changes to bus routes. Those changes will begin on September 1.

The district expects to save about $40,000 over the course of the school year by reducing the number of bus stops in both Durham and Middlefield.

In a letter sent to parents last week (see attached PDF), the district says the new bus routes will be available on the district's website by Friday, Aug. 19.

"One of the problems that we've had chronically over the past couple of years that we needed to address is bus runs taking a lot longer than they should," said Dr. Joe Ochterski, a school board member and chair of the board's transportation committee.

"We've heard the story of a student who, even though he took the bus, he was late school like 20 times last year." Ochterski said other students have been forced to wait up to 20 minutes for their bus to arrive at the end of the school day to take them home.

According to the district, bus drivers made about 2,000 pick-ups each day last year. "Every bus stop adds a minute to the run," Ochterski explained. 

That number will be reduced this year, as a result of consolidated bus stops. In some cases, buses will no longer drive to the end of cul-de-sacs to pick students up.

Younger students typically picked up and dropped off at private daycare facilities will no longer receive "door-to-door" service, said Ochterski.

"The buses are not supposed to drive on private property," he said. Instead, students will be dropped off and picked up at designated bus stops and escorted to the facility by an adult.

In addition, Memorial School's dismissal time has been moved ahead 10 minutes, to 2:35 p.m., to allow for the more efficient scheduling of bus routes.

(For a further breakdown of the impact of the changes, click .)

The new bus routes are the result of a 2008 review by Transportation Advisory Services, which found that the district could find significant savings in more efficient routes, by reducing the amount of mileage (313 miles/day), time (660 hours/year) and fuel (8,800 gallons/year) used by buses.

The new transportation plan was reviewed over the course of several months by Region 13 Business Manager Ron Melnick, DATTCO Vice President Phil Johnson, Eileen Bengtson of Central Office and Karen Meiman, a parent representative. 

"It's been a while since anyone's seriously looked at the efficiency of our bus routes," maybe as long as ten years, Ochterski said.

"Last year we had a bus run that was 71 minutes from Brewster School. So that's means there's a kindergartener sitting on that bus for 71 minutes. Now we have no bus runs that are longer than 50 minutes."

Ochterski said getting students to and from school safely will remain the district's top priority.

"We've made sure that every bus stop is safe," he said.

Any parent with concerns can call Eileen Bengtson at Central Office, at 860-349-7201. Bengston will be available between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. during the first two weeks of school and regular business hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) for the remainder of the year.