Elementary and middle school times changed to accommodate new bus schedule.
By: Ken Weingartner
MILLSTONE District school officials are looking for a smooth ride when classes begin next week.
When school starts Sept. 5, Millstone will use a "tiered" busing schedule to transport students to Allentown High School, Millstone Middle School and Millstone Elementary School.
To accommodate the new system, the Board of Education last spring voted to change the starting and finishing times at both the elementary and middle schools.
With the new plan, which came from a strategy to use fewer buses and reduce expenses, Millstone Middle School will begin at 8:10 a.m. and end at 2:50 p.m.; last school year classes ran from 8:25 a.m. to 3:05 p.m. The elementary school, which ran from 8:40 a.m. to 3:10 p.m., will operate from 8:55 a.m. to 3:35 p.m.
Business Administrator Brian Boyle said the district expects few problems with the new system.
"We think we have sufficient time between the starting and ending times at each school to allow us to make the runs," Mr. Boyle said. "That’s the main issue."
Mr. Boyle said Marilyn Kothe, the district’s transportation director, has completed preparing the bus routes and parents should receive notification soon where and when their children will be picked up.
The buses first will transport students to Allentown High School, then return to Millstone and pick up youngsters for the middle school. After making the middle school run, the students for the elementary school will be transported, Mr. Boyle said.
Using the new schedule will reduce the number of buses needed by the school district. Mr. Boyle said 31 buses were used in 2000-01 and 25 or 26 will be needed for the upcoming year.
By state law, school districts must retire buses after 12 years of service, regardless of their condition. Millstone eliminated the need to replace six buses by starting the new system, Mr. Boyle said. He said the move saved the district between $66,000 and $330,000, depending on whether the district leased or bought the buses.
"These are the kinds of things we looked at when we made this decision," Mr. Boyle said.
In January, when the change was being discussed by the school board, some parents voiced concern because it would require them to alter their work schedules. To alleviate the situation, the school district this year is starting a before-school program, Mr. Boyle said.
Parents who want their children to participate in the before-school program will have to make their own arrangements for the students to get to school, Mr. Boyle added.
"We haven’t had a lot of people sign up yet," he said. "We’re going to see how it works."
Mr. Boyle expects the transition to be seamless.
"We notified parents early on that this change was coming," he said.