Hazlet BOE looks to maximize buses

HAZLET — The township public school district is conducting a transportation study in conjunction with plans to redistrict schools.

At the Jan. 26 meeting, the Board of Education approved Transportation Advisory Service (TAS) as transportation consultant to conduct the study, at a cost not to exceed $4,900.

"The district is establishing a multi-tiered transportation schedule," Superintendent William O. George III said last week. "We will be presented with a variety of time schedules and are using the transportation consultation service called Transportation Advisory Service to conduct a study."

George said that the cost for a single bus route ranges from $17,000 to $40,000 per bus, and by changing the bus schedules, the district can limit the amount of money spent on transportation.

In the 2008-09 anticipated district budget, the total allotted for transportation services was $2,847,305.

"The firm we are using has worked with over 400 districts," George said. "What we are doing is trying to identify different operating scenarios. We will be utilizing a software program to create this tiered transportation schedule."

George described a multi-tiered schedule as using one bus with the same driver to travel three different routes throughout the day. With the district having three start times for the elementary schools, middle schools and high school, George said that the bus schedule will be timed to use the buses and drivers in the most efficient manner.

"It lends to more efficiency," George said. "The software allows us to look at all scenarios to maximize our best routes. It will help to find the most cost-effective ways to run our transportation services."

He said the changes would also cut down on the mileage costs in the district.

"What we are hoping to do is to cut down on the mileage as we provide busing," George said. "If you are in the K-to-8 grades and live two miles or more away from your school, we have provided busing in the past. With this new schedule, we could provide free busing for people who live one and a half miles away or less, for we are better utilizing the buses and not having empty seats."

George said at the Jan. 26 meeting that the study would work toward the planned redistricting to accommodate full-day preschool in the district.

"As part of the redistricting process, we are in the process of working on the transportation plans for our elementary students," he announced at the meeting. "It is our intention to make this a collaborative process and solicit input from all of our stakeholders on suggestions or concerns they may have with transportation and their children. We are asking for the parent community's input in developing our plans."

He said the ideas gathered will be presented at the Feb. 12 joint PTO/council meeting.

The district Board of Education passed a resolution on Nov. 24 that authorized the changes in grades preschool through six, effective for the 2009-10 school year.

Under the restructuring, Lillian Drive School, Middle Road School and Raritan Valley School will house grades one through four, while Beers Street School and Cove Road School will contain grades five and six.

To comply with state mandates, the Hazlet School District restructured the six elementary schools and created an Early Childhood Learning Center.

The new Early Childhood Learning Center, to be located at the Sycamore Drive School, will house 10 full-day kindergarten classes as well as the expanded full-day preschool program.

George said that with the redistricting, the three schools for grades 1-4 are perfectly located geographically, which would cut down on students' travel time to get to their school.

"The grades-five-and-six schools are centrally located as well," George said. "We don't have to go half the distance that we would normally have to travel from the West Keansburg area to Cove Road School. There's this misconception that people will have to travel further from one end of town to the other, which is about five miles, but that's not the case."

George said that with the redistricting and the transportation study, the district should save a considerable amount of money.

"It's allowed us to create a full-day kindergarten with no additional personnel costs," George said. Contact Jamie Romm at

jromm@gmnews.com.