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MCDONALD School board reinstates bus route
By Mary Smith
McDONALD
The board of education Wednesday reinstated a second bus route for Roosevelt Elementary students for the new school year.
The district cut to one bus while it was in state fiscal emergency at the advice of the state Finance and Planning Commission.
Schools Treasurer Bill Johnson said Roosevelt Principal David Vecchione has told the board that one bus is creating problems because some students are picked up and taken to school to arrive a half-hour earlier than the start of school, at 7:25 a.m. instead of 7:50 a.m. Classes start at 8 a.m.
Students have also been staying a half hour after school. The first pickup was at 2:20 p.m. and the second at 2:50 p.m. with one bus. School ends at 2:30 p.m.
There are no scheduled activities for students in school at this time.
Transportation Supervisor Mike Helco, who brought the idea to the board, answered questions on adding a second bus.
Reinstatement of the second bus will mean that instead of one bus making two trips to pick up elementary students, two buses will pick up kindergarten through sixth grade for the start of school Aug. 27.
A third bus also transports students to the Trumbull County Technical Center.
The cost of adding the second bus is expected to be between $6,000 and $7,000 for the year, Johnson said.
Johnson said the board is pleased about the reinstatement.
He said the board believes the addition is of a second bus “will improve safety and efficiency of the building and school operations will be improved.”
“The change,” he said “will get the kids there safer and at a very low cost.”
The number of students who will be picked up won’t be known exactly until Helco contacts eligible students to see who will be riding the bus.
Helco said for the past two years, since the second bus was cut, 50 to 60 students rode each trip for a total of 100 to 120 students.
Students who live on streets to be added back into riding the bus will be informed in a newsletter from the district.
Helco said he’ll be contacting each student who rides the bus to let the students know their new bus pickup times.
Helco said he anticipates that 120 to 140 students will be riding the two buses.
Every eligible student will be allowed to ride with the reinstatement of the second bus.
High school students are not bused in the district.