Selectmen ask for traffic study if school hours change

Selectmen asked the School Committee for a traffic impact study if the committee decides to change the starting and ending times of all the public schools and St. John’s School and add six to eight buses to the system beginning next school year.

Members of the School Committee met with selectmen Tuesday night to brief them on the proposed changes. The School Committee has not made a final decision but hopes to inform the public of its plans by early February.

Tentatively, the new hours will be: Galvin Middle School, 7:50 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.; Canton High, 8 a.m. to 2:24 p.m.; JFK and Hansen, 8:35 a.m. to 2:50 p.m.; and the Luce and St. John’s, 9:05 a.m. to 3:25 p.m.

The changes are all within a range of 10 minutes except for CHS, which would start and end 40 minutes later than the current school day of 7:20 a.m. to 1:44 p.m.

The committee would change the hours of the elementary schools every two years so that the same schools are not always on the same bus tier.

School Committee Chairman Cindy Thomas said the schools have studied the issue for two years and want to give CHS students more time in the morning to sleep, which has been shown to improve academic performance, according to several national health studies. Thomas said other nearby communities are also examining this issue and looking at school start-time changes.

To achieve the proposed changes, the committee is studying whether it should lease or purchase six to eight new buses and whether it should manage its own bus program. The current contract with Connolly & Sons ends at the end of this school year but has a two-year option.

Contracting six to eight buses with the current provider would cost an additional $330,000 to $440,000 annually. Purchasing the buses would require a one-time expenditure of $540,000 to $720,000, along with the additional costs of driver insurance, employee benefits, and gasoline.

The School Committee has tentatively included the costs of leasing the buses in its long-term capital budget; however, if the committee decides to acquire the buses, then it may need additional money and support from town meeting.

Selectmen did not voice any comment but inquired how the extra buses would impact traffic on the major roads in the morning and afternoon.

See this week’s Canton Citizen for more highlights from the December 16 selectmen’s meeting. Not a subscriber? Click here to order your subscription today.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Dec 18 2014. Filed under News, Town Government. Both comments and pings are currently closed.