To save, district tightens busing

By Ed Runyan

Austintown is taking several steps to improve bus safety.

AUSTINTOWN — Superintendent Doug Heuer says he and his staff didn’t take lightly the question of whether two groups of pupils could be combined onto one bus next year to save money.

They explored a number of options and finally concluded that combining the fourth- and fifth-graders at Frank Ohl Intermediate School with the Fitch High School students would be the best fit for the upcoming school year.

Pupils at the four grade levels all rode separate buses this year.

With the district continuing to explore cost-cutting measures before going to voters this fall with a new levy, eliminating one shift of busing at a savings of $200,000 seemed wise, Heuer said.

Though some parents would question how safe fourth- and fifth-graders would be on a bus with students in grades nine to 12, Heuer said the idea makes sense because of safety and efficiency.

From a safety standpoint, the high school and intermediate pupils are the two best-behaved groups, with the high school having the fewest recorded bus-related disciplinary problems and intermediate having the second fewest.

Pupils in grades six, seven and eight in Austintown Middle School have nearly twice as many bus-related disciplinary problems as any other group. The kindergarten-through-third-grade elementary pupils have the second-highest number of issues, Heuer said.

The problem with combining the K-3 pupils with those in grades four and five is that it would be inefficient, Heuer said. Elementary pupils would have to go to a collection point with the intermediate pupils and then be dispersed to their respective building rather than taken directly to their building, he explained.

A second consideration is the numbers of pupils who ride the buses, Heuer said.

The middle school bus routes are the fullest, with the elementary routes being second, intermediate third, and high school fourth.

Since the high school buses are required to make trips to the homes of high school students regardless of whether they ride the bus, there is extra room on them, Heuer said. And that leaves room for the intermediate pupils.

Several extra steps are being taken to ensure the safety of the younger pupils on the high school buses, as well as the other buses, Heuer said. Those steps are:

UThe younger pupils will ride in specific areas in the front of the bus and the older kids in the back.

UThe district will identify high school students on each bus who will serve as a mentor to the younger kids.

UState-of-the-art security cameras will be installed on all buses next year, thanks to a donation from Coca-Cola. Only a small number of buses are equipped with video cameras now.

UThe district has reached an agreement with Bus Radio, a Massachusetts company, to have the company’s radios installed in all district buses at no cost to the district. The radios provide “age-appropriate top-40, kid-friendly news, exciting contests and positive messages about staying healthy and safe,” according to Bus Radio’s Web site. In return, Kid Radio makes money off of advertising.

The system makes buses safer by giving riders something to do and by making a speaker system available the driver can use to communicate with riders inside and outside of the bus, Heuer said.

The busing change necessitated a change in school starting times, with the biggest change being at the intermediate school, which will begin its day at 7:30 a.m. for the 2008-09 year instead of 9:05 a.m.

New start/quit times for next year are: high school and intermediate, 7:30 a.m. to 2:20 p.m., middle school, 8:15 a.m. to 3:05 p.m and elementary 8:50 a.m. to 3:40 p.m.

runyan@vindy.com