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NILES -- The school board is moving on a plan for next year to improve the efficiency of bus routes after learning of concerns that students sometimes are brought to school and delivered home late and drivers have routes for all four of the district's buildings.
The board Thursday heard from Pete Japiske, deputy director of management services for the Ohio School Boards Association, who conducted a study for the district on busing students at four buildings that start and end each day 15 to 20 minutes apart.
He said while the buses taking students home are full, which is good for efficiency, it is difficult for many of the drivers to get to each of the four buildings when they start and finish so close in time.
"These are 15 to 20 minute road trips or longer for some of the routes and then the drivers have to get to the next school. By the time they get to the last school, the students are the ones who don't get to school on time or get home late," Japiske said.
To reduce the time for transporting students, the district next school year will not transport students to St. Rose, Summit Academy or John F. Kennedy High School. The schools are not part of the district and with so few students, transporting them is not practical, Japiske said.
The district is also moving ahead on plans to contract with two private after-school day care centers for the cost of busing students and reconfiguring routes with fewer buses and more students at each school. In addition, the district wants bus drivers cover only two buildings.
Superintendent Ann Marie Thigpen said the district is proposing having one group of buses handle the high and intermediate schools and another group the middle and primary schools for efficiency and better time management. It's a plan, she said, that will be tried in May instead of waiting until the start of the 2017-18 school year.
"We have a majority of the buses going to three buildings and several to all four," she said.
Parents will be notified when this is done, Thigpen said.