LIVERMORE – SAD 36 officials are working to keep elementary students on the bus for a shorter amount of time, but not have students dropped off at school too early. The single bus run has saved the district thousands of dollars in transportation costs, but each year there are glitches to be worked out.
The district went to a single bus run in November, whereby all students from kindergarten through grade 12 who live along a bus route are picked up and dropped off on the same bus run.
Previously, the district would run two buses, one for older students and the other for younger girls and boys.
A bus monitor accompanies a bus driver on each run, although officials are in the process of hiring someone to monitor a Livermore run, Superintendent Terry Despres said Monday. The person who initially agreed to do it has withdrawn because she is going to take classes, he said.
Kelly Mercier, a parent of three daughters in elementary school, said Monday that she was concerned about her children having to wait 20 minutes in the cafeteria after they were dropped off at the Livermore school.
The district has started dropping off elementary school students from Livermore at the school before bringing the town’s older students to Livermore Falls schools after parents complained about some kids riding the bus more than an hour.
Mercier said that her children were picked up at 6:35 a.m. and the elementary school doesn’t start until 8:15 a.m. Last year, prior to the single bus run, the elementary school students went to school 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., she said, and this year they go from 8:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.
Some elementary school children from Livermore had initially arrived at school at 7:35 a.m., she said, but were not allowed in the building until 7:55 a.m.
Last year, after the kinks were worked out, the single bus run worked well, Mercier said.
“I hated the idea of the single bus run, but it worked,” Mercier said.
This year, the high school is starting earlier and that has thrown the schedule off, she said.
“I just don’t understand why they can’t do what they did last year,” Mercier said.
Her children eat breakfast at home, she said, and could use the 20 minutes better at home rather than sitting in the cafeteria or on a bus.
Despres said that some changes were made Monday and students are allowed in the building early and are able to eat breakfast early.
Some bus drivers were leaving too early to pick up students, Despres said.
On Monday, the time of pick-up was changed on Livermore bus runs to 6:45 a.m., he said, and will continue to be shorter.
Transportation Director David Brackett believes he can take 15 to 18 minutes off the run, Despres said, so students won’t be on the bus as long and won’t be left at school too early.
Adjustments are being made to make all runs as efficient as possible, he said.
Last year, the single-bus-run conversion, even with a late start, saved the district about $32,000, Despres said.
This year, Despres said that he and Brackett have estimated “very conservatively” a net savings of $45,000 with new fuel costs.
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