Vernon Students Getting New Start Times, Shorter 'Walking' Classifications in New Bus Deal

VERNON, CT — Vernon students will have slightly different starting times, distances for student "walkers" have been shortened and bus routes will be more efficient for the 2017-18 academic year as part of a new transportation contract, Superintendent of Schools Joseph Macary said Wednesday.

The contract is for five years with First Student, the school system's current bus carrier, and it takes effect on July 1, Macary said. The increase is less than 3 percent, he said.

The contract was sent out to bid and First-Student was the lone company to respond, he said.

The contract employs many of the safety requirements set up in the current working agreement, like bus cameras and a strict reporting procedure for drivers passing a stopped school bus with its red lights and stop sign deployed.

But it features some changes as well.

The Vernon Board of Education on Monday approved a policy change that reduces student walking distances. The walking cutoff for students in kindergarten through Grade 5 will now be a half-mile and for grades 6 through 12, it will be 1 mile.

The changes are consistent with the language outlined in the new transportation contract, meaning the distances are based on what the policy terms, a "prescribed or authorized pedestrian route."

Macary estimated, based on his own observations, that roughly 20 percent of the students in each of the five elementary schools either walks or is driven to school, he said.

He said statistics show that children who live close by schools are more prone to absences, especially in bad weather. Making more students eligible for bus transportation should help, he said.

But at the same time, bus routes are being streamlined, he said.

Preliminary schedules will be shared with students and parents in July, Macary said. The final schedules should be published by Aug. 15, he said.

With revised bus schedules will come revised start times for local schools, Macary said.

But it won't be by much — likely between two and three minutes, but no more than 15 minutes in extreme cases, he said. For example, Rockville High School, which began classes at 7:27, would start at 7:30, he said.

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