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Today's Record-Eagle includes TCAPS' annual back-to-school supplemental called "Ready, Set, School." The material includes important school dates, contact numbers and bus route information.

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  • Karmon Hull, of Traverse City, is president of the Long Lake Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization and has two kids enrolled in Traverse City Area Public Schools. Record-Eagle/Keith King

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August 15, 2010

Younger, older kids to ride bus together

Change in transportation lumps elementary kids with high-schoolers

BY ALEX PIAZZA apiazza@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Karmon Hull grew accustomed to sending her children off to school in the morning on buses filled with empty seats.

Hull knew her children would get to school safe and on time, but she also recognized how costly it was to run half-empty buses through area neighborhoods.

"I thought there had to be a better way," said Hull, president of the Long Lake Elementary School parent teacher organization.

And that's the hope for Traverse City Area Public Schools' newly minted transportation policy. Officials are banking on several changes to lighten their financial burden, chief among them a decision to base bus routes on geography, not grade level.

The old transportation policy set aside separate buses for elementary, middle and high school students. But the new policy will combine all students, regardless of grade level, on the same buses, according to where they live.

"I think they will have fuller buses, which is a good thing," Hull said.

School officials expect the new policy to save the district about $500,000 annually because bus drivers can pick up and drop off students within a closer proximity.

"It's going to be like having neighbors on the same bus," said Paul Soma, TCAPS chief financial officer. "It's actually going to decrease ride time. It's a big change. It goes from an inefficient operation to an efficient operation."

Fuel costs are expected to plummet because bus drivers will travel less, Soma said. And the bell doesn't ring at the same time throughout the district, so officials reorganized some schools' start times to better accommodate the new policy, Soma said.

Christine Thomas said cost-cutting efforts already prompted similar changes among the majority of northern Michigan school districts.

"We're kind of behind the times," said Thomas, TCAPS interim transportation director. "It just doesn't make sense ... to send more than one bus to the same subdivision. This makes sense."

But some parents acknowledged a degree of worry that their young, bus-riding children could be seated near high school students come September.

"I hope they're putting drivers in that can be aware of what's going on in the bus," said Heather Asiala, who has children enrolled in TCAPS. "You always have concerns until you know what it's all about. I wouldn't say 'OK' and go along without some concern. I think we all have to get used to a different way of doing things."

But Asiala understands change is necessary in order to keep TCAPS' transportation system rolling, especially in the doubt-shrouded world of state school funding.

TCAPS operates a fleet of 110 buses, all of which include at least one security camera, Thomas said. Younger students will be seated toward the front of buses, with older students to the back.

Thomas understands parents' anxiety, and hopes to undercut those fears.

"These are your neighbors," she said. "You should know these kids. It should be more of a neighborhood family."

TCAPS parents can expect a postcard in the mail this week with details on their child's transportation route, including when and where buses will pick them up. School officials sent out forms months ago to determine which students would utilize the buses.

"By signing up, we know who's exactly on the bus," Thomas said. "It takes the guessing game out of it."

School officials met with parent teacher organizations throughout the district to explain the new policy. Soma said most parents supported the change, which also is expected to trim the time required for students to make it to their designated bus stop.

"The vast majority of the people will not have to walk a mile," Soma said.

That's good news to Cammie Freeman, who has two children enrolled in TCAPS.

"It makes me feel more comfortable as a parent," said Freeman, who doesn't mind the change. "I think it's fine and it makes more sense."

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