Driving toward an improved busing system

Lawrence welcomes new transportation supervisor

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Jeremy Feder holds three university degrees and is pursuing a fourth, and all that education will be put to the test in his new $95,000 per year job as the Lawrence School District’s transportation supervisor.
Described as the third most complex school busing system in the state by Superintendent Gary Schall — after New York City and the East Ramapo Central School District, in Rockland County — Lawrence’s transportation office must coordinate routing for 7,500 students who attend 175 schools: the district’s public schools, yeshivas, non-religious private schools and Catholic schools as well as institutions throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties and in Queens and Brooklyn that special-education students attend (see chart, at right). Transportation costs account for 9.5 percent of the district’s current $93.1 million budget.
During the past two school years, busing problems have prompted the district to hire Woodmere resident Sarah Weis as a private-school liaison to help resolve issues that arose at the beginning of the 2012-13 school year, ranging from the misspelling of a child’s name on a name card to excessively long bus routes. This year, yeshiva parents were still angry about the length of some routes, and requested changes. The district made a total of 235 adjustments, including revising routes and adding buses.
Private-school parents who complained to the district about transportation problems earlier in the year say they want the services they are paying for. “We feel that while our children attend private schools out of the district, they should receive the same quality of services when possible,” said Lawrence resident Barry Greenfield.
Enter Feder, 35, a Woodmere resident and a father of five, who started his new job in February and began instituting changes he hopes will help. More than 4,000 applications have been filed in the newly implemented online registration system for next year’s busing requests, he said. “It was phenomenal, and very easy,” he added. “Using InfoSnap [software], we can put all the information into an Excel spreadsheet.”
Processing requests faster should make for fewer registration problems than last year, when so many parents registered after the April 1 deadline. There will always be late registrants, Feder said — there are 179 students listed this year who have yet to re-register — and then there are families with children that move into the district during the summer. The transportation office, which also oversees the use of the school buildings, coordinates school registration and confirms student residency, is staffed by Weis, Carol Venezia and Mary Randazzo.
Feder said he would work with Inwood-based Independent Coach, the district’s bus company, to maximize bus routes and find the most efficient way to transport students. “Routes are a concern — we’ll use the software to plug in and assign routes,” he said. “Buses can’t go on certain streets; they’re too narrow. There are very few easy routes in this area.”
The district is now testing the use of Global Positioning System technology on its buses, and it should be added to all of them by the start of the next school year. The benefits of using GPS include knowing exactly where the buses are, whether a driver is making all stops, how long the stops take and the buses’ fuel usage, Feder said.
Onboard cameras are also being tested, in the interest of increasing student safety and driver accountability, he said, and he wants to implement a robo-call/text system that informs parents about delays and accidents. Feder is also meeting with parents. “Communication with parents is direct, without intermediaries, and I deal directly with the schools,” he said. “It prevents miscommunication and understandings.”
Schall called Feder — who has a bachelor’s in economics from Brandeis University, a master’s in education from Yeshiva University and another master’s in educational administration from Hofstra, a “technology wizard.” Feder is now working toward a master’s in educational business at Hofstra. “He has a real understanding of the community itself as a central administrator,” Schall said.
Feder previously worked for the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach as director of mathematics and director of programs, and helped coordinate transportation. He was also a faith-based outreach coordinator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Have an opinion on busing in the Lawrence School District? Send your letter to the editor to jbessen@liherald.com.

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