AUSTINTOWN Principal, director hope to iron out bus woes

The principal of the school that is the transfer point wants to work on making the system better.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- A new busing system the Austintown School District developed for parochial school pupils did not get off to a smooth start, but a school principal and the district's director of busing say they hope to have problems ironed out soon.
Some parents have complained that their children are on buses too long and that it's hard to know when buses will arrive at stops in the morning to pick up children.
And John Rozzo, principal at St. Joseph School on New Road, said he has concerns about the new system and wants to work with Austintown, the state Department of Education and the Youngstown Diocese to make it better.
Pivotal point
St. Joe's is a pivotal point in the new system, with elementary pupils who go to parochial schools arriving there first. Pupils who attend either St. Christine School in Youngstown or Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Austintown get on buses at St. Joe's to take them to the other schools. Under the old system, buses picked up children at their stops and took them to their schools. The district is saving $260,000 a year with the new system, school Superintendent Douglas Heuer has said.
Youngstown Christian School in Youngstown is also supposed to be involved in the new system, but is not at this time, Rozzo said.
Rozzo said he is concerned about the number of buses being used in the new system. He said 12 buses for the three schools might not be necessary.
"On some of the buses, ridership is very minimal," he said. And he said that a double line of buses in the parking lot is a safety issue because kids have to go between buses. He said the double line bothers him, even though buses aren't running during transfers.
Ride is too long
Rozzo also said parents are concerned about the amount of time their children are riding the buses, which can be from 45 minutes to an hour.
"Complaints about wait time, about bringing home kids late, that's legit," he said. He said three monitors and even some teachers help with the bus transfers, but the transfers still add confusion, especially in the afternoons.
"But for now, we do the best we can."
Pam Jadue of Celeste Circle, who has three children attending St. Joe's, said she believes St. Joe's is trying to make the system work.
But Jadue said some children are on their buses for more than an hour from the time they board at St. Joe's until the time they get home in the afternoons.
"A lot of parents are very angry," she said. Her own children, she said, used to get on the bus at 7:20 a.m., and now catch it at 6:40. She said they used to get home at 2:45 p.m., and now get home at 3:05. Her children include twins in fourth grade and a kindergartner. "That's a long day for him."
Suzanne Irilli of Edinburgh Drive, whose daughter is a third-grader at St. Joe's, said she and other parents are driving their children to school until the system is working better.
Schedule needs work
She said the Austintown district told parents to have their children at the bus stops by 6:45 a.m., but her daughter waited during the first week of school until 7:20 a.m. This week, her daughter got to the stop at 7:05 and missed the bus.
She said she doesn't blame the bus drivers, but does blame the whole system.
She said that calls to the district's bus garage have been no help.
Colleen Bagnoli, the district's director of busing, said that buses have not been late getting to St. Joe's -- that they are there by 7:20 a.m.
She said she is not aware of any pupils' riding the bus for an hour or more. Mary Faria, a bus driver, said that on her route, it could be 25 to 30 minutes at most before she drops her last pupil off in the afternoon.
Bagnoli said the district never gave parents exact morning pickup times.
Routes need work
"The routes aren't completely set," she said, and she concurred that parents were told to send their children to the bus stops by 6:45 a.m. She said pupils could be waiting at the stops "maybe 20 minutes, maybe two minutes."
She said there are always problems at the beginning of the school year, but drivers are "working it out." She said that after consulting with drivers, the district should now be able to give parents a better idea of when to send their children to the bus stops.