NORWICH – The issue of busing in the Norwich City School District this year is stirring some concerns and protests among parents who in addition to dealing with the latest changes in the school schedule, are also adjusting to new bus regulations.
Parents made a plea to members of the school board during last week’s Board of Education meeting to reconsider this year’s changes in the school busing policy. The change requires that students riding the bus after school have only one consistent drop-off point – a stark contrast to past years, when drop-off points could be changed as per parent request. According to school officials, it’s all part of an effort to ensure safety and limit confusion among children and school personnel about where a child needs to go when school lets out.
NCSD Deputy Superintendent Robert Wightman stressed the need for the recent changes given the school’s two-tier busing system that transports students from the Stanford Gibson and Perry Browne elementary schools, and the middle and high schools at different times. The key words in the decision process, he said, are consistency and safety.
“From a safety standpoint, we needed a set transportation schedule,” he said. He noted that most students who ride the bus come from the district’s two elementary schools and many last-minute requests from parents to change drop-off locations muddled faculty and bus drivers in past years. “We try to be flexible and it’s easy with only a few students; but the problem is the volume we were dealing with ... We’re not that flexible in dealing with mass changes. We wanted specific drop-off and pick-up times to limit some of the confusion for parents, bus drivers and administration because we don’t want children dropped off in the wrong place,” he said.
Misty Davis, a mother of three – each in a different school and dismissed at different times – urged the school board to consider more flexibility with its new bus policy. “Life happens. Things happen. We should be able to accommodate,” she told board members, adding that different dismissal times also makes it difficult for her to pick up her children. “I can’t be in two places at once,” she said. “It’s unrealistic and it’s unfair.”
Currently, Wightman said the school board and administration are looking into further changes for the 2013-2014 school year that could include single-tier K-12 busing for all students and changes in scheduling that would dismiss students in all four schools within 30 minutes of each other. The district has referred to an outside transportation agency for recommendations on a single-tier system, but is still unsure of how it might work out. “The question there is logistics of busing,” said Wightman, citing that the number of students, bus capacity and busses available would all be taken into consideration. “We don’t want to take a gamble with it because there’s no going back with that decision.”
The administration is also expanding flexible options for the schools’ early dismissal time on Oct. 14.