After confusion, Newfield readjusts school bus routes

The Newfield Central School District (CSD) hit a bit of a snafu with its bus routes during the first week of the new school year.

The district faced a bus driver shortage over the summer, which led to superintendent Eric Hartz and transportation supervisor Donna Boyce making some changes to the school bus routes.

The bus routes for elementary school students and van routes for other locations remained unchanged. Hartz said the original bus routes created some confusion with the pickup and drop-off of middle and high school students.

“We tried to condense some routes that we felt could be condensed,” Hartz said. “We tried to do some economical things to get things going. After going through the first week, we just realized that we needed to make some changes. We just weren’t getting kids to school on time.”

The district took a mandated virtual day on Sept. 13 to regroup and readjust their bus routes.

“I would like to apologize for using Friday [Sept. 13] as a virtual day,” Hartz wrote in an email to families and others. “The day was needed and I can not thank you enough for your patience. Thank you for allowing us this time.”

Another bus driver left on Sept. 18, with Hartz noting it “just made things super tough.” Newfield CSD’s transportation department, however, had bus drivers in training who needed only to take some final testing. There were also a handful of substitute bus drivers who could take over morning or afternoon bus routes.

“We picked up a couple of drivers in the process,” Hartz said. “We did some creative things, and we had one of our retirees come back who was willing to sub for us.”

Newfield CSD was also able to go from about nine buses in the route rotation to six. Each bus also went from 12 to 14 students to somewhere between 30 and 40. Hartz added that each bus can handle that number of students.

“It adds a little more time on the buses, but it’s good and something we needed to do,” Hartz said.

Hartz noted that Newfield CSD has not only district-based bus routes, but also separate runs to TST Boces, the William George Agency for Children’s Services and Tompkins Cortland Community College.

Hartz said that Newfield CSD almost has more routes than bus drivers. Numbers for bus drivers, Hartz said, are “in good shape.”

“We’re not perfect, but we’re not bad,” Hartz said. “We were a little too tight at first, but we’ve been able to add a few extra routes.”

Hartz said despite some readjustments to morning pickup times, the elementary school students are still dropped off before the 7:40 a.m. start time. Middle and high school students are picked up by 7:45 a.m. and dropped off by 8:30 a.m.

“[The elementary school bus runs] ran really well,” Hartz said. “We had very few issues there. We wanted to make sure students got to school on time in case they needed breakfast and other things.”

Hartz praised Boyce for the work she’s done so far for the district’s transportation department.

“She’s been awesome and doing a great job, we just needed to restructure our bus routes to accommodate our students’ pickup times,” Hartz said. “Donna was actually driving buses some of those days, but we need her more [in the transportation department office]. She’ll be more of a bus driver in case of an emergency.”

Hartz noted that the district’s bus transportation plans are coming together following the Sept. 13 virtual day.

“At the end of the day [on Sept. 13], we felt like we were in a better place,” Hartz said. “It proved to be good on [Sept. 16]. Our kids are getting to school on time. It also took the stress off families and school staff.”

Hartz noted that this week the district will evaluate where bus routes stand and respond to a few inquiries from individuals interested in becoming bus drivers.

“We’ll take a look at our needs and who we have. We can’t rely on subs because they can’t always drive. We have to make sure we have enough regular bus drivers,” Hartz said. “When you don’t get kids to school on time, it upsets everything. It’s a hard way to start the day if attendance can’t be taken in the homeroom. Now that we’ve resolved that and gotten our issue down, we’re seeing the school day go a little smoother for the kids, adults and teachers. It’s important.”

Newfield Notes appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.

In brief:

Library in Dryden to receive state funding for programming

Assemblymember Anna Kelles (D-Freeville) announced that Newfield Public Library will be one of eight local libraries to receive state funding for programming and other improvements.

Kelles said that $66,900 in state funding will be distributed to libraries in Tompkins and Cortland Counties. Newfield Public Library will receive $4,000 to purchase security cameras.