Start times, bus routes discussed

By Jennifer Jean Miller
SPARTA — The Sparta School District will be reviewing the current bus routes for the district, Superintendent Dennis Tobin announced Monday.

“We’re going to carefully review our routes,” Tobin said.

Tobin said the district has been receiving email communications from parents on the subject of transportation and the school start times. Some bus routes take approximately 40 minutes to complete, he said.

Some parents have expressed their concern about the early start time for Sparta High School, which now convenes for the day at 7:03 a.m. The high school ends for the day at 2:11 p.m.

“We would like to find more times to start that school later,” Tobin said.

On the other hand, Tobin said that changing the start time at the high school may impact the dismissal time at the Alpine Elementary School, the last school of the five in the district to begin and end. It's classes begin at 9:10 a.m. and end at 3:45 p.m.

Wedged in between are the Sparta Middle School which starts its day at 7:35 a.m. and ends at 2:30 p.m., the Mohawk Avenue School that begins at 8:25 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m., and the Helen Morgan School beginning classes at 8:50 a.m. and ending at 3:25 p.m.

Tobin reminded the public that Sparta’s challenge is the balance between the schedules of five separate school facilities, combined with transporting 3,500 students, and the breadth of the township stretching 39 square miles.

Some parents have cited to Tobin the transportation plans of schools in other districts as examples, including Lenape Valley Regional and Newton High Schools.

“We are a [Kindergarten] through twelve district,” Tobin said. “You can’t compare us to a regional high school. They only have one building.”

Tobin also said that Newton is a district without bus transportation.

Pope John XXIII Regional High School and the Reverend George A. Brown Memorial Schools were other examples parents have given to Tobin as models, which Tobin said only juggle schedules for two buildings.

“Our challenge is different than theirs,” he said.

Tobin said he would be discussing the options with his new transportation coordinator.

One of the factors impacting a change of schedule would be the budget.

“We’ll look at the budget process over a five-year period, because it will take funding to accomplish this,” Tobin said.

Changing the bus routes and start and dismissal times would likely require additional buses to transport students.

At the Sept. 22 board of education meeting the topic of bus routes was discussed.

Parent Tammy Mongen asked the board if there was maximum time limits students should be spending on the buses to be transported to and from the schools. Mongen said her child has been picked up an hour prior to school start time. She also said that afternoon kindergarten students might experience a 10-to-15 minute wait on their bus before they are able to leave, and teachers can escort them to their classrooms.