School Bus Frustration, Safety Fears Shared By Bridgewater-Raritan Parents

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Transportation was a major topic at the latest Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education meeting, with parents pressing district leaders on busing delays, lack of communication, and raised safety concerns for students.

Parent Complaints

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At the Sept. 15 meeting, Bridgewater-Raritan parents spoke for about an hour expressing their frustrations.

Rachel Ruffner, who identified herself as a Bridgewater parent of a fourth grader and sixth grader, said both children experienced bussing issues on the first day under the district's new configuration.

She noted that one bus arrived about an hour and 15 minutes late and another "never showed up at all."

"In the chaos, my nine-year-old son almost boarded the wrong bus," said Ruffner.

Ruffner also criticized the district's response after Superintendent Robert Beers sent what she described as a district-wide apology.

"A vague apology doesn't address the safety concerns that are occurring," she said.

Ruffner told the board, "Buses are pulling away before children safely cross major roads like Hillside Avenue and Washington Valley Road."

She also said students have been forced to sit or stand in aisles, buses have hit street signs and mailboxes, and she was not aware of the district using its instant alert system for real-time notices.

Several other parents described similar problems.

Eugene Tawiah, a Bridgewater parent who is also running for Board of Education, said families experienced a "profound operational breakdown" over the past two weeks.

He said parents spoke of canceled routes, child care disruptions, and children left on buses for extended periods.

Tawiah proposed finalizing bus routes 21 days before school starts, running route dry runs for drivers, setting up emergency hotlines during the first two weeks of school, and documenting compliance with state safety laws before approving any transportation plan.

Lucy Yao said transportation issues forced families into "impossible decisions" involving child care and work schedules.

She described a bus ride that should have taken six minutes that became 48 minutes, then 74 minutes after a revision.

Cassie Hudak said her 6-year-old, who lives less than half a mile from school, was slated to spend about 40 minutes each way on the bus.

She said she had been "calling, emailing, and leaving voicemails for two weeks at transportation with zero replies."

Other speakers focused on specific safety issues.

Katie Kachmar said she was uncomfortable with her child crossing Foothill Road to board a bus, citing no crosswalk and drivers not stopping for bus lights.

Karen Shea said three kindergarteners at her stop face long walks without sidewalks and extended rides home.

Superintendent Comments On Transportation

Before public comment, Superintendent Robert Beers told the board the district expected a challenging start after reconfiguring grade bands and adjusting school times, but said the first week fell short.

"The first week of school did not meet the community's expectations or mine or that of the administration," Beers said.

He said nearly every bus route had to be rebuilt and some drivers were working runs they had not driven with students before, on schedules "that were not tested in live traffic."

Beers said some families got late bus assignments and, in some cases, the information they received did not match what happened at the curb.

He said buses ran off schedule, ride times were longer than expected and parents called and emailed looking for children on late buses.

"I understand the frustration that caused it, and I'm here to accept responsibility for all that," Beers said.

The district is now identifying routes that are not performing, improving arrival and dismissal procedures and revising runs that are not working, he said.

Beers said changes are underway and "going to take effect over the next week to two weeks."

He also said "the vast majority of bus routes are on time" and estimated that "somewhere around 10 percent" are running late.

Board members pressed for more on communication and technology to improve transportation.

Board member Jennifer Loughran said communication around busing "has been pretty abysmal."

Beers agreed, saying, "Communications need to improve and specifically when a bus is late, getting that notification to parents and I accept that feedback."

He said the district is reviewing GPS data and, "to my knowledge, there has been no problem with athletics getting to where they need to be for their contests."

Beers also said the district should explore bus tracking technology and potentially expand its own fleet over time.

He said in-house drivers performed better than contracted routes this month and said the district has more control over training and dry runs with its own employees.

Asked about contractor preparation, Beers said the expectation is that drivers do dry runs, but added, "it certainly wasn't done to the level that we would anticipate before a large opening day."

For families still dealing with problems, Beers said they should keep reporting them.

He said comments about long ride times should go to the school, and "If it's an emergency, that should start with transportation. If you don't get an answer, to call the school."

Petition

A Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School sophomore, Cooper Rago, also spoke during the meeting, sharing his frustrations with not only transportation but the new adjusted school start times.

"These new times have caused nothing but problems, me personally too, since the first day of school," said Rago.

He said that at the high school he has seen many athletes having to leave school early, "missing multiple classes, even leaving right after lunch."

"It affects people's jobs, it affects the sports, it affects learning," said Rago.

He also noted that middle school students starting a half hour earlier in the day is in contradiction to the studies regarding later start times for teenagers.

As a result, Rago launched a petition to reverse the school start and end times. His petition has close to 1,000 signatures as of Tuesday.

"The Bridgewater community deserves a plan to rectify the difficulties. We deserve a response or a fix to these start and end times for the situation the district is in," said Rago.

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