This week\u2019s Bellwood-Antis School Board meeting drew a crowd of 40 concerned residents who wanted to share their views on the school bus issue.
\nCurrently, the district is looking into contracting bus service with Raystown Transit, a private bus company. Many parents want the school to continue with the district operated system.
\n\u201cMy concern is for my kids. We have one on one communication between the bus driver, we love our bus driver. We don\u2019t want other people coming in and not caring about our children,\u201d said Christine Snyder.
\nShe also expressed her concern about changes in bus stops.
\n\u201cA lot of us are working parents and if the bus stops get farther away it will be a big concern.\u201d
\n Laura Burget relayed a story of coming upon her child\u2019s bus along the side of the road. There had been an accident, no fault of the driver, and he had all the kids off the bus, talking with them and the police were calling the school.
\n\u201cEvery single parent was called,\u201d she said. Burget wondered, is this going to happen with a contracted bus system?
\nMarsha Stapleton was given the privilege to ride the kindergarten bus for three days.
\n\u201cI saw her (the bus driver) with her own money buying little stickers, making up a chart. If the kids got so many stickers they could get a special prize.\u201d
\n\u201cWe know our neighbors, we know our children are safe with our teachers, coaches and bus drivers, so why change this?\u201d asked Lori George. She also wanted to know if there would be longer bus rides?
\nThe general consensus from the 40 citizens in attendance was a general trust and respect for the districts bus drivers.
\n\u201cMust every decision depend on the almighty dollar?\u201d asked Stapleton.
\nSuperintendent Brian Toth and Business Manager Ken Swanson shared handouts with those in attendance.
\nThe pair was also able to address some of the concerns brought up during the public comment.
\n\u201cStops are set by the district, we will continue to set those,\u201d said Toth.
\nHe also explained whether the buses are district owned or contracted, all reference checks are done and need to be board approved.
\n Parents also raised the question about a district policy involving kindergarten students. Right now, bus drivers may not let a kindergarten student off the bus without an adult there to pick them up. Toth assured parents that this policy will stay the same.
\n\u201cAs you know, we\u2019re not in the transportation business, we\u2019re in the education business,\u201d said Toth.
\nBellwood is the only school in the area that has not contracted out its bus service.
\nToth said because there is not enough drivers, he occasionally has to send Swanson and other school personnel out to drive the buses.
\n\u201cKen has to stop what he\u2019s doing and go out and drive the bus because I don\u2019t have enough buses,\u201d said Toth, \u201cHe doesn\u2019t get any compensation for that.\u201d
\nToth also explained that the board\u2019s decision is not based solely on money.
\n\u201cOur main concern is safety, not just money,\u201d he said.
\nRecently, Toth walked through the buses. He had Swanson take him out on one of the older buses.
\n\u201cWe took some of the winding roads. I don\u2019t know how that bus makes it around,\u201d said Toth.
\n\u201cI think this district does a great job at maintaining these buses, but we have nine buses that are already eight-years-old or order and you never know when you\u2019ll have a mechanical problem when they get that old.\u201d
\nSome of the advantages of contracting out the bus service include a larger pool of drivers and buses. The district needs buses for extracurricular activities.
\n\u201cWe can\u2019t handle all those runs so we have to subcontract them out anyway,\u201d said Toth.
\n\u201cIf we have a driver call off, if they\u2019re well in the morning but get sick in afternoon, we have to announce which kids need to go on which bus. Then there is overcrowding.
\n\u201cThis contractor is familiar with Bellwood-Antis. Even before I got here, this particular contractor was involved with the school in the management and driving of some of the buses,\u201d said Toth.
\nIf there is a problem with one of the drivers, the district would be able to ask for that driver to be changed.
\nBoard member Dave Worthing said he can understand the parents concerns. He said his daughter probably had a better relationship with her bus driver than she ever did with her teachers. But, Worthing said the board is taking this decision very seriously and he understands the concerns. Number one is the children. Also, he said the board needs to look at the financial and safety aspects as well as concerns for the bus drivers.
\nSwanson reviewed the financial situation, showing $87,957 could be saved after one year with a contracted bus service. Taking into account other considerations such as the sale of the current buses and vans and repairs, the total impact on the 2005-06 school budget is projected to be $377,957. Over a three-year contract that figure would increase to $553,870.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a hard and a tough decision but we\u2019re trying our best to get the best opportunity for our drivers,\u201d added Swanson.
\nThe board wasn\u2019t able to go into a lot of details because they are still in negotiations with Raystown Transit. However, no decisions can be made until June 30 when the bus drivers\u2019 contract runs out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This week\u2019s Bellwood-Antis School Board meeting drew a crowd of 40 concerned residents who wanted to share their views on the school bus issue. Currently, the district is looking into contracting bus service with Raystown Transit, a private bus company. Many parents want the school to continue with the district operated system. \u201cMy concern is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43110\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}