Barrington Busing Battle - Families Angered at Issues Arising From Later School Start Times
GoLocalProv News Team and Kate Nagle
Barrington Busing Battle - Families Angered at Issues Arising From Later School Start Times
Multiple issues have emerged in the new school year. Younger students have been made to ride longer bus routes. Then, an issue arose this week in which students were moved to different buses after school, with no notification to families.
Now parents, and grandparents, are decrying the move by the district.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“It’s crazy. I’ve been here 42 years, and I’m fortunate my kids have moved back,” said Denise Lombardo, who has grandchildren in the school system. “But I have major concerns in the last two weeks.”
Lombardo spoke to the incident this week, in which she found out later that a text message was sent to parents saying the bus her granddaughter was supposed to be on was going to be 20 minutes late — but that her granddaughter, who is in the first grade, was actually moved to another bus, with no communication to the family, that arrived ten minutes early.
“She was upset. Her cousins [that she usually rides with] weren’t with her. The bus driver couldn’t explain what happened,” said Lombardo. “It was very confusing. My issue is that it’s unacceptable that you could cause anxiety in these kids. I’m an educator, and our main philosophy is safety, and you have our children having this kind of unnerving feeling. I was there, I saw all this.”
Lombardo said that her granddaughter told her that the bus she was supposed to be on was overcrowded — so much so, that she was initially sitting on another child’s lap — when the move was made to take students off that bus and placed on another,
“From what she said, it was so crowded, the little ones were going to the back of the bus, and the bus drivers were yelling them at them to sit down,” said Lombardo, of her granddaughter's bus route she said is much longer than last year, with another school stop now that is out of the way. “I’ve taught child development. These kids have enough anxiety, with getting used to routine — to have this. I don’t know why they went to the two tier system — the three tier one was working just fine last year.”
Barrington Schools Superintendent Michale Messore — who last year supported the change to a later start time for middle and high school students — said there “has not been a multitude of issues.”
“On the contrary, the system is working well,” he told GoLocal. “With any change of a schools’ schedule or how the transportation begins the year it is not uncommon to experience transportation or logistical delays during the first few weeks of school.”
Parents' Concerns
“This plan should have never have been implemented without the money and resources,” said Carolanne McTaggart, who spoke to the problems she said her three children — at three different schools — have faced this year. “It’s a disaster. It’s not fair my kid’s now on the bus for 50 minutes after school — and the buses are alway late.”
“The school committee says they care about children — when they put five year olds on busses for 50-55 minutes? And my son in high school gets out 3:06. The bus then goes to the Middle School. Then he sits in that parking lot ‘till 3:30, and he’s home around 3:50. And my youngest? School gets out at 2:20 — and he’s home is 3:20,” said McTaggart. “It’s a disaster.”
Superintendent Messore acknowledged that longer bus routes for younger students were a result of last year’s decision to move school start times.
“In comparison to last year, it’s true our runs are longer due to a two tier system combining the K-3 schools with the 4th and 5th grade school,” he said. “As the year progresses, we will look for ways to capture efficiencies and see if we can find ways to reduce run times.”
“I think it will go the other way,” said McTaggart, who has been vocal in her opposition to the changes. "This has been a disaster."
Editor's Note: A previous version had McTaggart's son home at 3:02, it is 3:20.