District voter referendum can reduce mileage requirements for bus transportation

When Deb and Dave Weissman found out that their ninth-grade daughter wouldn’t be receiving bus transportation to Northport High School because they didn’t meet the 1.5 mile distance requirement, they weren’t sure how they would get her to and from school every day.

“We were at 1.46 miles, instead of 1.5,” Deb explained. “It’s a really far walk. They measure to the entrance of the building grounds, not to the actual area where they let the kids into the building.”

The mileage requirements for receiving a bus to school, Deb learned, were decided in 1988. The current bus transportation rules remain the same today and require the following mileage limits:

• Kindergarten: .50 mile or greater

• First through fifth grades: .75 mile or greater

• Sixth through eighth grades: 1.00 mile or greater

• Ninth through twelfth grades: 1.50 miles or greater

Deb explains, “When the requirements were passed, the roads weren’t the same. When the kids were walking 1.5 miles, there weren’t all of these structures, there weren’t all of these cars, it was very different back in 1988 when they made kids walk that far.”

Walkers are having an even harder time now, during the pandemic, as restrictions don’t allow for the use of lockers. Students aren’t able to store their books at school and they have nowhere to put their coats during the day. There’s also the issue of young people walking to and from school on bad weather days, when the sidewalks aren’t properly shoveled and the roads are more dangerous.

For Deb, driving her daughter to school every day isn’t possible. Both she and her husband work; relying on bus transportation put them in a difficult position. That’s when the Weissmans decided to start a petition to get the requirements amended. “We just figured, let’s see what we have to do to get this changed because this is ridiculous,” Deb said.

“We are fully aware that a lot of people choose not to use the bus, and we understand that, but there’s a lot of people who don’t speak up that do need the bus,” she continued. “I’ve heard so many stories from random people who I’ve never met. Just horror stories about a kid getting hit on a bike, and kids walking in the middle of the street through the snow. So we thought it was important to try to get it changed.”

School administration was very helpful throughout the entire process, according to Deb.

The Weissmans’ petition, which required 135 signatures, is for the following proposition:

Shall the Board of Education modify its public school transportation eligibility effective the beginning of the 2021/2022 school year to provide transportation for students in grades 6-8 from the existing 1.0 mile limit to a new .75 mile limit, and students in grades 9-12 from the current 1.5 mile limit to a new 1.0 mile limit for the 2021/2022 school year, at a cost not to exceed $331,760 and levy the tax therfor.

About 300 high school families alone will receive bus transportation if the proposition passes on May 18, the day of the district’s budget and trustee vote. For many of them, this would ease a day-to-day issue that causes a lot of stress.

Marlena Dentrone from East Northport said, “We are on Valley Road and 1.334 miles from the high school, according to Transportation. My son doesn’t mind walking, but when the snow was here it was impossible. Plus, these neighborhoods don’t have sidewalks. He leaves between 7-7:15 to get to school on time, sometimes the sun hasn’t risen, sometimes it’s below freezing (and there are no lockers for him to put his winter coat in this year).”

And Johannah Kramer, who lives in the Bellecrest area, explained, “It is absolutely absurd that they expect our kids to walk to the high school. Bellerose has no sidewalks in place!”

The current rules for bus transportation also affects families with children in both kindergarten and grades first through fifth, as the mileage requirements are different for each group. Kindergarten students have to live at least .5 mile away from school, while first through fifth graders have to live at least .75 mile away.

This has been an issue for Alexandra Lupo-Pinello, who explained, “I’m one of those homes that get a bus for K, but not 1-5. I didn’t even bother putting [my daughter] on the bus last year because I didn’t want her to get excited for the bus only to have it taken away the next year. Plus, when my four-year-old goes into K, my older daughter will be in third grade. I can’t be at the bus stop waiting for the younger one while picking up the older at school.”

Although most district residents are open to passing a proposition that can benefit local families, the cost of changing mileage requirements is a concern for some. Another concern is how this proposal would work with the potential school closures.

It turns out that these two issues go hand in hand. During the School Closure Task Force Committee’s April 6 meeting, Robert Howard, the Assistant Superintendent for Business, presented this change in mileage requirements as a plausible option with no additional costs to the district or taxpayers – if Adapted Scenario A is approved and Bellerose Avenue and Dickinson Avenue elementary schools are closed.

Although Deb and Dave’s decision to begin a petition came long before the school closure plan became a possibility, Mr. Howard explained, “We’d be able to provide more services to our students, and our taxpayers and residents, at no additional cost. Now this is only achievable by having less buildings to transport to and having the design we discussed in Adapted Scenario A.”

The district buses have a staggered schedule with three tiers, which allows one bus to complete a route for each tier. For instance, one bus will pick up high school students for an arrival time of 7:15am, then pick up elementary school students for an arrival time of 7:50am, and finally pick up middle school (or Norwood) students for an arrival time of around 8:30am.

The district pays for a bus contractor at an hourly rate, with a four-hour minimum. To spend the money wisely, each bus should be in use for the entire four-hour shift, but Mr. Howard reports that they have been underutilized under the current structure. Even Scenario A, which involves closing the two schools, underutilizes potential bus capacity, leaving nine buses with only two tiers.

In other words, there are 34 buses being paid for a four-hour minimum shift, but not every bus is being used for the entire four hours.

This new proposition, however, improves capacity utilization if the school closure plan is implemented. Because more students would have access to the bus, there would be more routes during each tier, so each bus that’s being paid for anyway would be used more.

Implementing Scenario A itself doesn’t reduce the mileage requirements alone. The voter referendum is also necessary, which means that while residents are voting for the budget on May 18, they would also have to vote “Yes” for Proposition #3.

“The voters themselves, as a majority, will decide if there’s a change in mileage,” said Mr. Howard.

And what happens if Adapted Scenario A isn’t passed? The Weissmans’ proposition specifically states that the cost cannot exceed $331,760, which is about $17 per year for homes valued at $500K. The proposition, however, does not change the differentiation between mile requirements for K students and those in grades 1-5, so families who have access to bus transportation for one child, but not the other, won’t find relief with this referendum.

For those with children who walk to school every day, enduring the weather and loaded backpacks, this proposal may serve as a reprieve. “If it helps one family or prevents one accident from happening, then it’s worth it,” said Deb.