Canfield schools invest in more buses for more service next school year

May 1, 2014 at 12:00a.m.

By Robert Connelly

CANFIELD

The school district has spent about $400,000 on five new buses to expand its busing program for the next school year.

Canfield Superintendent Alex Geordan said the district has been sending home surveys with fourth- through 11th-grade students to gauge the interest in high-school busing, which will be offered next year. The district also is going to move to door-to-door busing for kindergarten through fourth grade.

“We are now increasing safety and taking the burden off parents,” school-board president Lee Frey said.

Geordan said officials still are deciding on bus routes, whether that be one route for all grades or three separate routes. Though they have added more buses to the fleet of 31, Geordan said that doesn’t necessarily mean the district will be hiring five more drivers. He said once the route is decided, then the district will look at hiring additional staff. He said more substitute bus drivers recently were trained.

Another new addition for the 2014-15 school year is all-day kindergarten. “I think that’s one of the reasons the levy passed,” Frey said. Voters last year approved a five-year, 5.9-mill operating levy for the school district.

Parents will need to show proof of residency in Canfield for kindergarten registration, a birth certificate and Social Security card for the child and custody papers, if necessary.

Registration will be “up until the start of school, but we are trying to be proactive when it comes to hiring staff,” Geordan said.

He also said they have received applications from throughout the state for the open kindergarten-teacher positions, from recent graduates and current kindergarten teachers as well as a few current staff who showed interest in the new openings.

He said they could have two kindergarten classrooms at each of the elementary buildings, Hilltop and C.H. Campbell. Geordan added they are looking at keeping a 20-to-1 ratio of students to teachers to keep the numbers manageable and plan to “outfit” the classrooms for kindergarten use over the summer.

“Anytime you can add educational opportunities and you can afford it, you should do it,” Frey said of the improvements Canfield has been making in recent months.

Geordan encouraged anyone with questions about all-day kindergarten or busing to call Canfield schools’ central office, 330-533-3303.