‘Where do we go from here?’

In an effort to improve its transportation system, the Lawrence Board of Education will review two busing policies with an eye toward revising them, district officials said at Monday’s meeting.
Superintendent Gary Schall announced the study of the policies after he reported that the majority of busing problems that plagued private-school students during the first month of school — predominantly yeshiva students — had been rectified.
“The district worked closely with Independent Coach to correct many of the problems that were reported at the last meeting,” Schall said, referring to the district’s Inwood-based bus company. “We reviewed over 90 routes and made revisions as needed.”
Yet problems remain, Schall acknowledged, in the Lawrence district’s complex bus system, which transports 7,500 students to more than 75 schools on Long Island, including Brooklyn and Queens, using 450 routes. According to district policy, bus routes within it should be no longer than approximately 45 minutes. Some out-of-district private-school routes, however, can take as long as 90 minutes, which parents have complained is too long. Last school year the routes were no longer than an hour.
“This has already adversely affected our children’s lives, from psychological well-being to health, as they have nausea and headaches every day,” said Lawrence resident Barry Greenfield, whose daughter attends North Shore Hebrew Academy High School. “These problems present an obstacle to true learning both inside the classroom and outside, when they get home to do homework and study for tests.”

Greenfield, speaking on behalf of several yeshiva parents, asked that the district assign children attending three schools in Great Neck to two smaller buses instead of one large bus, saying that the change would significantly reduce the time they spend on a bus. A decision has yet to be made on that request.
The board will also review a policy that prohibits the district from using transportation funded by taxpayer dollars to bring children home from after-school programs to ease travel problems.
Changes to either policy would be subject to public comment and require two readings before the board could vote on them.
“Where do we go from here?” Greenfield asked the board.
“We will review the policies for all the children,” said board President David Sussman. “We will do what is best for every child in the district.”
Since the first week of school, several parents of yeshiva students have noted problems with transportation. Routes were longer, drivers didn’t know them, and communication among the district, parents and Independent Coach was spotty. District officials sought to remedy the difficulties by adding buses, moving students from one bus to another to streamline routes and revising pickup and drop-off times.
But the challenges the district faces, Schall explained, include more than just logistics. “There is a shortage of drivers and a high rate of absenteeism, and we are not alone in that problem,” he said, adding that the district and Independent Coach are “actively recruiting drivers” and working on a better way “to communicate to parents when these problems occur.”
Yeshiva parents once again asked the district to look into “reverse busing” — in which the first children on the bus in the morning would be the first dropped off on the way home — to reduce the amount of time students spend on buses.
“You are detracting from their ability to get the job done when it comes to school,” Lawrence resident Joseph Grob said of hour-and-a-half bus rides to and from school.

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