Facing significant pushback from parents, the Merrimack Valley school board members opted against eliminating two bus routes that collectively serve up to 100 Penacook students.
However, just three weeks from the first day of school, administrators said they could not guarantee they would have enough drivers to consistently staff the routes anyway. The district currently has only 13 fully certified drivers, but it needs 20.
After a spring season that saw the district regularly forced to cancel bus routes at the last minute, the school board’s transportation committee had proposed eliminating the two routes in an effort to restore consistency to families’ daily routines and accelerate the implementation of walking-focused safety measures.
“These kids are going to have nothing” if the district doesn’t start putting walking safeguards in place, transportation director Noelle Panagopoulos warned ahead of the vote. “They’re still not going to have a bus, because there isn’t a body to put in it.”
About 10 parents turned out Monday against that proposal, saying that the Penacook area’s busy streets – some of which lack sidewalks – would put their children in danger even if the district and city of Concord added crossing guards, crosswalks and flashing lights.
“Crossing Fisherville Road in the morning is really dangerous, especially for five- to ten-year-olds,” said James Ziegra, whose son attends Penacook Elementary School.
“What if it’s raining out?” he asked. “Kids are going to show up to school soaking wet and try to take a test with wet shoes. It’s ridiculous.”
Parents also said hiring before- and after-school childcare would be cost-prohibitive for many families.
“We are two working parents,” said Deidra Potter. “We don’t have the luxury of bringing them to school. I would love to. So now I’m adding on some more financial stress to our family by having to add in a before-school option.”
Amid a nationwide bus driver shortage, Merrimack Valley’s challenges grew especially dire last year when two drivers died and three more were unable to renew required certifications, Panagopoulos said.
The district currently has three drivers in its training course, who Panagopoulos is hoping will be ready to drive by the first day of school. Another two drivers have just been interviewed. Though the pair already hold commercial driver’s licenses, Panagopoulos said she wasn’t sure yet whether the Department of Motor Vehicles would require they re-take the test, which could take time.
Even if all five of the drivers were available by Aug. 27, the first day of school, the district would still be down two drivers. Any driver who called out sick would further throw the delicate schedule off balance.
Administrators have considered contracting out two bus drivers, which would cost an estimated $180,000. They cautioned, though, that may not be a panacea.
By last May, families whose children ride the two Penacook bus routes began receiving regular notifications about the status of their buses. At times, the notifications came early in the morning and left families scrambling.
“We were running a skeleton crew,” assistant superintendent Catherine Masterson said. “…The reality of that situation was that there were times where parents weren’t aware that the bus was not coming on that day. They were anticipating the bus coming, and they had students out there waiting.”
The lack of consistency caused safety concerns and attendance issues that administrators hoped to preempt this year by developing a busing schedule they could consistently staff.
Panagopoulos said that while she could ask the city to implement some safety measures regardless, she could not proceed with hiring crossing guards unless the board voted to implement a walking zone.
The two Penacook buses were on the chopping block because they service students within 1.5 miles of their schools. There are no other buses that exclusively service students within the two-mile radius in which state law requires districts to provide transportation.
The district has already consolidated its routes from 27 to 20 and can’t consolidate them further without some students’ rides surpassing one hour, which would violate district policy. It has also increased bus driver’s salaries without seeing a significant bump in interest, administrators said. Bus driving – a job that requires working a split shift in variable conditions with at times unruly children – is an inherently difficult job to fill.
In unanimously opposing that proposal, school board members said the safety and logistical concerns of parents resonated with them.
“I am concerned that the measure is draconian and reactive instead of proactive,” Jessica Wheeler Russell said. “I am not necessarily opposed to asking students to walk. I am opposed that we’re giving them less than 30 days to tell them.”
Still, Monday’s board meeting brought little clarity about what those families can expect three weeks from now.
Panagopoulos said she was working as hard as she could to get the five drivers in various stages of the certification and licensing process cleared by the start of the year, but there’s only so much she can do.
“The reality is that you can’t fabricate human beings that are licensed to drive out of thin air,” she said.
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