Half-solved busing issue not good enough for some
Parent says district didn't exhaust all efforts to get kids a ride
BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer

MILLSTONE - A parent whose child may not get bus transportation to private school this year told the Board of Education that it could have done more to accommodate nonpublic school bus runs.

Despite a national bus driver shortage and refusals from bus companies to bid on proposed nonpublic school bus routes, the Millstone Township School District continues to work on securing transportation for its students who are attending St. John Vianney High School in Holmdel and Christian Brothers Academy in the Lincroft section of Middletown. Although its first bidding attempt was unsuccessful, the school district has managed to find transportation for its nonpublic school students who are attending Notre Dame High School in the Lawrenceville section of Lawrence and St. Rose of Lima School in Freehold.

If the school district cannot ultimately provide transportation for its other nonpublic school students, each affected student would receive an $859 payment in lieu of transportation for the 2007-08 school year.

Wayne Londregan, a parent of a student in one of the schools that the district has yet to secure transportation for, told the school board at its Aug. 27 meeting that the district could have consolidated public school runs and changed public school opening times in order to secure bus transportation for all of its students.

"I find it difficult to believe you can't find a change in the runs," he said.

Londregan said that in 1999 all the district's public K-8 students traveled together on the same buses, which are now divided between the district's public primary/ elementary and middle school students, leaving fewer buses for nonpublic school students.

The school district's business administrator, Brian Boyle, said that while public school children in all grade levels used to travel together on the same buses, "that doesn't mean it was the best thing to do."

Boyle said that the district previously had discipline issues with some middle school children who had to travel on the same bus with elementary school children.

According to Boyle, the district also had more buses for nonpublic school students in the past because public elementary and middle school students were located on the same campus. With the opening of the new middle school on Baird Road this fall, the district has another campus that is three miles away from its other schools.

"We squeezed as much as we could," Boyle said. "Due to the geography of the town, we could not find buses. We're down to one spare [bus] out of the three we had."

Boyle also said that there is now less time for drivers to perform nonpublic school runs. He said that in the past, the district needed fewer buses in the morning and more in the afternoon, which provided time for the private school runs.

"Now we need more buses in the earlier part of the day than we do later on,"

"These parents have a vested interest Boyle said. Londregan said the school district has been planning for the opening of the new middle school for a number of years but that it seems not to have been prepared for the busing issue the new school would create.

He said that several of the school district's bus drivers have resigned.

"Our best resource is not the new middle school on Baird Road," Londregan said. "Our best resources are our people - teachers, bus drivers, custodians."

Boyle said the Board of Education had created a 1.5-year transportation timeline for the district.

"What fell against us is that we had no bidders [for the nonpublic bus runs]," he said. "We agreed the first priority was the interlocal runs for the public school kids. You may disagree with that, but we are a public school [district]."

Boyle said the problem is not a lack of planning but that bus companies are not willing to bid for the nonpublic bus runs that pay $859 per pupil, which is the maximum spending state statute allows for student transport.

Referring to Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck's (R-Monmouth and Mercer) involvement in Millstone's nonpublic school busing issue, Londregan said that Beck's office told him that the school district went to her late for support.

Boyle said, "That's totally unfair. She can say what she wants."

Londregan noted that the last school budget failed at the polls by 88 votes. He said the school district has approximately 150 private school students who have a total of approximately 300 parents. in education, demonstrated by paying taxes and paying tuition," he said.

Boyle said the district's transportation coordinator, John Griffiths, will start looking at transportation options for the 2008-09 school year before the school board begins preparing the next budget. Boyle said the board could opt to purchase more buses to solve the busing issue.

"Believe me, I want to put this to bed as much as you do," Boyle said.

Boyle added that other areas of the school budget could be affected if the board decides to purchase more school buses.

Resident Rosalie Chiricello asked if the school district could use the money it saves from not having to educate the township's private school students in its public schools on more private school buses.

Boyle said the district's budget does not take nonpublic school students into account, adding that "it is not a pay-asyou go system."

"If we have 620 kids going to Allentown High School, that's the number," he said. "Even if all the nonpublic students went to AHS, we'd only pay for 620."

Boyle said that when nonpublic school students enroll in the district's public schools, it takes two or three budget cycles for the costs to adjust. As further explanation, Boyle said the district's budget process begins in November but that the board doesn't review and adopt it until February. The public is not invited to speak to the proposed budget until March, according to Boyle, and voters do not decide the spending plan's fate until an April election.