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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-04-05-STAS-minAd Hoc School Transportation and Safety Study Committee Meeting Minutes April 5, 2012 at gam Room G -15 Town Hall Present: Judy Crocker (Chair), Craig Weeks, Sharon Kendall Guest: Bonnie Brown Mary Ellen Dunn (LPS Superintendent for Business and Finance) and Elaine Celi (LPS Transportation Coordinator) are attending meeting with C& W in regard to the bus contract. Secretary for this meeting will be Sharon. Deferred to next meeting the vote on minutes of the March 1 and 15 meetings due to not having a quorum. Update on School Bus Contract Bid Process Deferred to next meeting since Mary Ellen Dunn and Elaine Celi are not present. We do know that the Town received only one bid, which came from current bus company C &W. It did not offer any options other than the current 3 -tier system. Discussed that this limits what can be done to improve efficiencies and means round trip bus passes are needed to cover costs of the contract. It was mentioned that it would be nice to be able to sell extra seats on established buses as one -way. It was suggested that we look into what other towns that have successful one -way ridership options are doing. League of Woman Voters (LWV) First Friday Forum - Friday April 13th Transportation question- `Getting around town without a car.' Jessie and Deb will give short Power Point presentation. Article 4 Update: Town Meeting passed Article 4, which will provide subsidized busing for Estabrook students for the 2012 -13 school year due to safety concerns during the construction of the new school. Monies will come from the School budget. This will likely add 2 more buses to the overall school bus transportation system. Next action item will be a PR push to inform parents. Elaine Celi, LPS Transportation Coordinator, has created a bus registration informational flier to be distributed to Estabrook families during its spring conferences this week and next. A more complete informational flier will be distributed following the Article 17 Town Meeting vote and Flexpass discussions with TAC. One question for committee member Captain Manny Ferro (Lexington Police Department) is in regard to queuing on public roadways. What can be publically said to be clear about the result of violation of the queuing ban in order to encourage more bus riders and discourage single occupancy cars? Article 17 Update: • Article 17 should come before Town Meeting on April 9 after the 8 remaining CPA articles. • Town meeting member Don Benson will make the motion from the floor and ask the moderator for permission to introduce Judy. Craig will partner with presentation with Judy. • The Article 17 packet has been printed and is available for TM members to pick up at Town Meeting prior to April 9. • On the Town Meeting floor there is a NO microphone, a YES microphone and a Question microphone. Citizens will sit in the balcony where there will be one microphone for anyone who chooses to speak upon recognition from the moderator. It is known that there are several Town Meeting members and citizens that plan to speak at the microphone in favor of Article 17. Estabrook Task Force Update The ETF is working on issues of car queuing and the bus lane on the current post - construction infrastructure design. The policy for Kindergarten arrival /dismissal will be reviewed with Estabrook Principal Sandy Trach. Ms. Trach spoke that she may want buses to be held until the car queue is gone which is the reverse of what this committee seeks to promote. March Parent Survey Results The next School Transportation & Safety article in Lexington Minuteman is about the survey results. Several slides in Town Meeting Power Point presentation are in regard to these most recent survey results. School Bus Registration Elaine Celi has created the first flyer to distribute to Estabrook, as previously mentioned. The price points are not yet known. If Article 17 passes, then the fee should be with $300 /student. A considerable PR push will be required to notify parents of service improvements and any cost reductions. The timeline for registration will be after April vacation to roughly May 25th. One item for PR is the fact that riding bus reduces tardiness to school, which is a particular problem at the high school. At Estabrook, walkers and buses typically arrive on time, but those who come in cars arrive after 8:30. Those children not in their classroom by 8:45 are tardy. Middle school tardiness has become less of an issue when students ride the bus. Report cards include a tally of how many times your child has been tardy. It was noted that needing to be ready for the bus at a particular time teaches responsibility and timeliness. A bus isn't going to wait for students as parents do. Tardiness can result in a student starting their day stressed and may have lost instructional time. The goal is to have students at school on time without added stress and to be ready to learn at the chime of the bell. Review of School Traffic Plans The homework of this meeting to review each school's arrival and dismissal plans. This includes finding out how many staff are outside so that we can determine the number of staff man hours are used during arrival and dismissal. Requiring staff to spend time on arrival /dismissal takes away from instructional or planning time. The goal is to take the teacher out of the transportation equation. Schools were divided among attendees in order to report back at next meeting. Review of LPS arrival /dismissal procedures The policy point person on the School Committee is Margaret Coppe. The School Committee is attempting to steer away from "policies" and rather promote "procedures." It is unclear if making arrival /dismissal directives uniform throughout the district will require SC input. In the near future once the STS has delineated its draft criteria, Mary Ellen Dunn will need to confer the draft procedure with the school principals. Adjourn. Our next meeting will be May 3, 2012 in Town Hall Room G -15. Respectfully submitted, Sharon Kendall