a presentation to the governing board

a presentation to the

Governing Board

Paul M. Novak March 5, 2019

• Recurring performance issues related to on-time

student pickups and drop-offs

• Occasional overcrowding of buses on routes

• Worsening school bus driver turnover rate

• Difficulty recruiting quality school bus drivers

• Rapid growth in special needs student

transportation as a related service

• Students grandfathered under next year’s boundary

changes

• Non-boundary programs that are supported with

student transportation services

Background

• “Is it good for students” must be our guiding principle

• Bell times directly correlate to transportation’s:

successful performance

cost-efficiency

• Uniform bell times are greatly beneficial to:

families

programs

instructional staff

• Young teens (7th & 8th grade) generally benefit from

later start times

Bell Time Principles

Current GPS Bell Times

• Developing logical, efficient and acceptable bell time

proposals is:

complex

time-consuming

unsettling to everyone

and in the case of GPS, requires a complete

reengineering of the entire structure

• Committees often conclude that the outcome must

either:

benefit students, instruction & achievement

or benefit transportation operations . .

….but not both

Developing the Right Bell Times

• Steps to ensure that adopted bell times work as

intended:

Develop logical special needs boundaries

Uniform arrival windows for buses in a.m.

Follow bus manufacturers seating capacity

Schools must load students rapidly in p.m.

Buses must stay on schedule; no returns

All open enrolled students register to ride

Cutoff date to register intent to grandfather

Parallel Considerations

Adjacent Districts’ Bell Time Patterns

MPS

CUSD

QCUSD

HUSD

GPS

DISTRICTNAME

1ST

BELL2ND

BELL3RD

BELL

CUSD H.S. E.S. J.H.S.

HUSD H.S. E.S. J.H.S.

MPS H.S. E.S. J.H.S.

QCUSD H.S. E.S. J.H.S.

Impact of Proposed Changes

on High Schools

CRITERIA CURRENT OPTION #1 OPTION #2

Number of H.S. bell times 1 1 1

Total spread, first to last bell time 0 min. 0 min. 0 min.

Avg. earliest morning pickup time 6:35 AM 7:30 AM 6:45 AM

Morning drop time @ schools 7:00 AM 7:55 AM 7:10 AM

Avg. student ride times 25 min. 25 min. 25 min.

Number of H.S. regular ed buses 51 *65 *65

Length of H.S. instructional day 7 hrs. 00 min. 6 hrs. 55 min. 6 hrs. 55 min.

*Estimate only. Upon adoption of new bell times, the entire bus routing system will be revamped to optimize all routes to maximize efficiency.


on Junior High Schools


Number of J.H.S. bell times 3 1 1



Morning drop times @ schools 7:30-7:50 AM 8:25 AM 8:25 AM


Number of J.H.S. regular ed buses 56 *65 *65

Length of J.H.S. instructional day 7 hrs. 02 min. 7 hrs. 00 min. 6 hrs. 55 min.



on Elementary Schools



Number of E.S. bell times 6 1 1



Morning drop times @ schools 7:50-8:35 AM 7:20 AM 7:50 AM


Number of E.S. regular ed buses 80 *65 *65

Length of E.S. instructional day 6 hrs. 47 min. 6 hrs. 45 min. 6 hrs. 45 min.

% of P.M. E.S. buses that are late 66% 0% 0%


District-wide



Number of bell times (districtwide) 9 3 3

Number of regular ed bus routes 80 *65 *65

Number of special ed bus routes 58 *50 *50

Total bus routes (excluding vans) 138 *115 *115

Number of preschool start times 8 1 1

Bus driver staffing requirements 175 *140 *140

Total school bus fleet size 257 *170 *170

25%

5%

23%17%

17%

13%

47%

PERCENT OF TOTAL FLEET

Under 5 yrs. 6-10 yrs. 11-12 yrs. 13-15 yrs. 16-19 yrs. Over 20 yrs.

Age of School Bus Fleet

38%

7%

35%

3520%

PERCENT OF TOTAL FLEET

Under 5 yrs. 6-10 yrs. 11-12 yrs. 13-15 yrs.

Age of School Bus Fleet After Reduction

Paul M. Novak March 5, 2019

a presentation to the governing board

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