By MICHAEL NUNES
Staff Writer
SPOTSWOOD — School hours could be changing for students in order to reduce transportation costs for the school district.
The Spotswood Board of Education is currently mulling over a proposed school schedule change that would see students at the high school and middle school arrive sooner and leave earlier while the elementary schools arrive and leave school later.
The proposed changes are for the 2016-17 school year.
At Spotswood High School, students are currently expected to arrive at 7:14 a.m. with classes starting at 7:40 a.m. Student dismissal is at 2:21 p.m. Under the proposed new schedule, students are expected to arrive at 7:05 a.m. with classes beginning at 7:20 a.m. and dismissal at 2:01 p.m.
At Memorial Middle School, the current schedule sees students arrive at 7:15 a.m., begin classes at 7:50 a.m. and leave at 2:31 p.m. The proposed schedule would have students arrive at 7:05 a.m., start class at 7:30 a.m. and be dismissed from school at 2:11 p.m.
E.R. Appleby School, one of the district’s two elementary schools, students arrive at 7:50 a.m., start class at 8:05 a.m. and get dismissed at 2:40 p.m. The new schedule would see times changed to 8 a.m., 8:15 a.m. and 2:50 p.m.
G. Austin Schoenly School, the district’s other elementary school, currently has students arriving 8:05 a.m., beginning classes at 8:20 a.m. and dismissing students at 2:55 p.m. The proposal would see those times changed to 8:15 a.m., 8:30 a.m. and 3:05 p.m.
According to Superintendent Scott Rocco, surveys have been sent out to parents in order to get their feedback on the proposed changes. The district would like to receive all responses by March 15.
Already over 100 parents have responded, Rocco said.
According to Rocco, the changes are necessary, citing a major change in the district’s transportation system that occurred earlier this year.
According to Rocco, when the district went out to bid for transportation last year, they did not receive a bid from the vendor they had been dealing with for many years.
Last year, the district outlined $200,000 for transportation, but bids from other outside vendors came in at around $350,000.
The bids that were received came in “exorbitantly high,” Rocco said, leaving the district with one of two choices.
“We had to make a quick decision. We could either go beyond the budget by $150,000 or we could bring transportation in-house and rent buses for the year,” he said. “We didn’t want to bring in the transportation, but [that’s what happened].”
By bringing the service in-house, it raised the borough’s transportation cost to $300,000. Despite the increase, Rocco said there will be flexibility since the district is able to use its five buses for field trips as well as sport and community events.
The district is looking to save more next year with the proposed schedule, reducing the fleet to four buses.
“The way to reduce that cost more … was to adjust our school times. To be more efficient at our transportation and to be more efficient economically, we have to adjust our school times and have a more tiered system which basically means [fewer] buses in the district can do more routes,” Rocco said.
Dulce Branco-Rivera, president of the district Board of Education, said it has become difficult for the schools to find an outside contractor with the current busing situation.
“We used to go out to bid, and it’s not profitable for an outside company to come in and give us a bus for each school and do all the routes and at the same time. It’s too many buses and drivers for them,” she said. “To them this is not a profitable situation.”
At the March 1 school board meeting, some parents spoke of their opposition to having some students come in earlier, fearing that it would affect their school work.
“Yeah, it’s a pain in the neck to get my son out of bed, don’t get me wrong, but it’s dangerous and it’s not supporting their success when we’re pushing them to do so much more and now preventing them from the number one thing that can help them do that — their sleep,” parent Jodi Evanego said.
Contact Michael Nunes at [email protected].