To avoid on-the-fly decision making during the current bus driver shortage, the Marysville Board of Education took steps Monday night to adjust the daily schedule in all buildings in order to create flexibility in district routes.
At the special meeting, the board voted unanimously to begin instituting a plan that will, in essence, see older students start and end their school day a little earlier and younger students begin and end a bit later.
Marysville Director of Operations Ryan Walker said there have been pros and cons to each solution the district has explored to address the busing problem. The district is currently operating 24 bus routes, when it ran 32 in 2019. Two new drivers have recently signed on, but that will only allow the district to return substitute drivers to their normal jobs as bus mechanics and office workers.
“I’m not going to pretend there is a golden egg for a solution,” Walker said.
The buildings in the district begin and end their days at different times to allow buses to transport multiple routes each morning and afternoon. Bunsold Middle School (BMS) starts its day at 7:40 a.m., followed by the Early College High School (ECHS) at 7:45 a.m. and Marysville High School (MHS) at 7:52 a.m. Creekview Intermediate is next to start at 8:35 a.m. followed by the elementaries at 9:10 a.m.
BMS is then the first to dismiss at 2:40 p.m., ECHS at 2:53 p.m., MHS at 3 p.m., Creekview at 3:25 p.m. and the elementaries at 3:55 p.m.
The proposed new schedule would see middle and high school students start their day 15-22 minutes earlier, Creekview remaining nearly unchanged and elementaries beginning 10 minutes later. At the end of the day, middle and high school students would be dismissed 20-30 minutes earlier, Creekview would stay nearly unchanged and the elementaries would be released 10 minutes later.
Expanding gaps between start/end times between buildings allows flexibility in routing, building in time for the routes of absent drivers to be covered. Walker said middle and high school riders are currently picked up together on routes, while the proposed new plan would separate them onto their own buses.
The number of riders per bus would be greatly reduced while also eliminating the need for each bus to travel to the middle school and then each high school. Walker said there is also a behavior benefit to separating the age ranges found on middle and high school buses.
After finishing with older students, the drivers then head back out on routes for the younger students.
Walker explained that the goal is to reduce the number of stops for buses because each time the bus stops there is a potential for a delay, which then compounds into additional delays as the morning or afternoon progresses.
Walker said the new plan would allow consistency, something not offered by a second option considered by the board on Monday.
The other option involved essentially instituting a weather delay-type response if bus staffing hit a critical level. Families would be notified as early as possible that an alternative schedule would be in place for the day.
During those days only, older students would start at essentially the same time but would be released between 1:30 and 2:10 p.m. Creekview and the elementaries would start school at 10 or 11 a.m. but would be dismissed at roughly the normal time.
While this type of as-needed contingency allowed school to operate normally when not in use, there were several negative impacts when enacted. The contingency plan greatly reduces the length of the school day when in place and makes pick-up and drop-off times fall into a much wider range. Also, alternative kindergarten and morning preschool would be canceled under this plan when enacted.
The plan approved by the board Monday night shortens the school day slightly in some buildings. The high school day would be eight minutes shorter than the current schedule and the middle school day would be reduced by five minutes. The length of the day would remain the same at the other buildings.
The lost minutes of education would still allow the district to stay at about the state targets for cumulative instructional hours.
Perhaps the biggest benefit of the proposed plan is that it takes stress off of the existing bus drivers.
“They need some relief and I think this offers that,” Walker said.
He said drivers, who are in charge of buses filled to capacity, now face the added pressure of trying to be time-efficient on unfamiliar routes. Walker said the fear of missing students while trying to hurry is wearing on drivers.
“There’s no doubt their stress levels are being felt,” Walker said.
Officials noted that they can’t hope to grow the transportation staff if work conditions negatively impact staff retention.
Walker and a transportation consulting firm will now begin determining how to best create the new routes. At the regular monthly meeting, the board is expected to officially vote on the plan, a necessary move because the action changes the length of the school day in certain buildings.