Centennial’s New Transportation Plan Meets Criticism

Transportation issues dominated the discussion at the Centennial School Board Operations Committee meeting Wednesday evening.

School bus pick-up and drop-off points across the district were reorganized this year, with many moved to new locations. The new plan received its first run on Wednesday morning and was met with several complaints after only the first day.

The district intends for the bus routes established this year to carry through to next year, when the district closes both Longstreth and Stackpole and reopens Davis Elementary.

Such a large number of parents contacted board members and administrators regarding the new stops, that the committee adjusted the agenda to bring the discussion to the top of the meeting.

However, not all of the committee members agreed that this was the proper way for the district to attack the problem.

“To try and do this on a case-by-case basis is almost sit-comical,” said Board Member Thomas Hezel.

Hezel said his concern is that there may be other unsafe stops in the district that the board will not hear about because someone didn’t have the time to come to a meeting and discuss it.

“This is something that we need to tackle, but we need to tackle it in an objective, abstract way,” he said.  “I want to try and be fair to everyone in the district, but we need to do it in the constraints that we have.”

Committee Chair Kati Driban disagreed with Hezel and used the analogy of a leaky roof to illustrate her point.

“If you have a leak, you are still going to put a bucket under it until you have the time to get new tiles,” she said. “The policy is going to be your new roof. Right now we have got to fix the leaks and we need to do that this year, as the policy is going to take time to be written.”

Transportation Supervisor Wayne Robinson began the discussion of the new bus stops by explaining the process behind their development.

He said he was given the task of consolidating the districts bus stops two years ago, right about the time when the district decided to consolidate the elementary schools.

“It wasn’t anything we took lightly when we undertook this task,” he said. “We looked at the school district overall and simply established centralized bus stops in and throughout the neighborhoods to provide adequate coverage for all of the students to get a ride.”

He said the rerouting of buses and the reorganization of stops was intended to save the district from a costly alternative, purchasing anywhere between 10 to 20 additional school buses.

Robinson said there were two main goals for the redistribution of bus stops: to streamline the routes for efficiency and to ensure that students did not have to walk an excessive distance to their stop.

He added that a long-term goal of the plan is to have everyone use the same stops throughout their scholastic career, regardless of what school they are going to.

Robinson said he utilized a routing software program as well as his extensive knowledge of the streets within the boundaries of the district to design the new routes.

“Unfortunately, when you are clicking things on the computer and you are looking at distances you are not taking into account the entire neighborhood,” said Paul Cammarota, of Warminster.

Cammarota said there were about 20 kids, with parents in tow, at his child’s bus stop Wednesday morning. 

“We had a overcrowded corner, with rain and cars coming by and nowhere to stand," he said. "It is a central stop, but it doesn’t take into account the number of kids.” 

Barb O’Shea, of Southampton, also spoke to the committee about concerns of crowding, only she was referring to the number of students on a bus. 

O’Shea said her child, a student a Klinger Middle School, was subjected to unsafe conditions on the bus ride home Wednesday afternoon. 

“Is there a standard for the number of children that are supposed to be on a seat in a bus?” asked O’Shea. “From what I heard today there were four students per seat with students on the floor [on bus 65].”

Robinson said the standard is three students per seat and that is a “worst-case scenario,” not something that is employed on a regular basis.

“[The drivers] are under strict orders that if there is someone sitting on the floor or someone standing, it’s stop and make a radio call,” he said. “There is no way there should be more than 65 people on that bus. Period.” 

The committee recommended a number of the stops that appeared to present immediate safety concerns to be moved to the full board for its consideration and possible designation for change.

Driban reminded the audience that even if there issue was not deemed a safety concern by the committee, they could still have it brought before the board for its consideration. She said anyone with an issue would  need to email a brief description to Superintendent of Schools Jennifer Foight-Cressman and ask for it to be added to the agenda prior to the meeting.

The board will consider the recommended transportation issues at its next meeting, Tuesday Sept. 13, at 7 p.m.

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