Superintendent Goeler at the finance committee meeting.
Some Hamden students may get to sleep in a little later next year as the district considers changing its busing schedule in an effort to cut transportation costs.
Hamden’s Chief Operating Officer Tom Ariola presented that proposal to the Finance Committee of Hamden’s Board of Education last week. The idea will face a vote from the full BOE Tuesday night.
In response to a $600,000 gap in the coming fiscal year’s budget, left by the Legislative Council’s decision to flat-fund the BOE, the committee voted to change the district’s bus schedules as an alternative to cutting the total number of bus drivers.
Leadership claimed the district could avoid condensing routes or changing pick-up locations in the face of budget cuts by starting and ending elementary and middle school classes later.
Currently, Hamden High starts classes at 7:30 a.m and concludes at 2:00 p.m, the middle school begins instruction at 8:15 a.m and winds down at 2:29 p.m, and elementary students sit down at their desks at either 8:15 or 8:45 a.m and head home for the day at 3:04 or 3:34 p.m, respectively.
An alternative plan would see elementary schools, including St. Rita’s, the town’s Catholic school, starting and ending school at a uniform time — 9 a.m and 3:49 p.m. — while the middle school would push its classes ten minutes later to begin at 8:25 a.m and release students by 2:39 p.m.
The High School would still start and end at the same time: 7:30 a.m and 2:00 p.m.
The idea is that increasing the gap between when schools open will allow more time for buses that typically make multiple runs between the high school, middle school, and elementary schools to make it to school yards on time — and the district’s contracted bus company, First Student, could better avoid calling in additional buses when on-the-clock drivers are otherwise delayed.
The district has struggled with drivers delivering students to school in a chronically late fashion this year, Ariola said, with available drivers traveling longer routes in an effort to transport all students in the face of a national shortage of workers.
Bus drivers make trips to the high school, middle school and elementary schools in that order everyday. If they had more time to pick up and drop off students studying at different locations, the district would likely have to make fewer calls to ask for additional drivers when their peers run short on time and need backup to minimize the amount of class time lost by kids.
Ariola estimated that the plan could drop the number of buses called in each day by around six. At $480 per bus per day, the town will save $518,000 in next year’s budget, the committee estimated.
Ariola said that he approached First Student to ask for possible solutions given the district’s constrained budget. The company suggested rescheduling school times as an alternative to changing bus routes
“If we don’t do this, we’d have to have fewer bus stops. The money has to come from somewhere,” Superintendent Goeler said of the plan. “I think it’s a huge win for our district.”
Furthermore, Hamden public elementary schools currently do not have a synced dismissal time. This makes it difficult for teachers to have district-wide faculty meetings, officials said.
“The primary benefit for me is this will give teachers and administrators the time to collaborate on an ongoing basis,” said Assistant Superintendent Gary Highsmith.
Assistant Superintendent Chris Melillo acknowledged that the change might interfere with parents’ work and life schedules, but the committee agreed that the plan primarily offered new advantages, such as cost savings, a potential solution to consistently tardy bus arrivals, and simpler facilitation of professional development opportunities.
This bus plan and the newly crafted proposed budget will be presented at the next Board of Education meeting for approval is scheduled to be presented Tuesday evening at Helen Street School.
Overall, the bus plan change “looks like a win-win to me,” said school board member Austin Cesare.