Chelsea School District cuts number of bus stops to save money
Students in the Chelsea School District will have to travel farther to catch a bus this fall, now that the district has eliminated many bus stops, including all of those within the city limits.
“We’ve eliminated about 20 to 25 bus stops,” said Chris Frayer, bus transportation director. “We’ve dropped all our city bus stops.” The consolidation of stops is a cost-saving measure, one of several the district has taken this year.
She said that students within the city will walk to the school closest to them, where they will catch a transfer bus to the school they attend. The furthest any student has to walk is 0.9 miles.
Students in the Chelsea School District will have to travel farther to catch a bus this year.
“Parents are being notified that if they want their child to ride the bus, this is where they have to come,” said Frayer, adding that busing is not required by state law. “It’s only required for special education busing,” she said, which is being handled by a cooperative arrangement among Dexter, Manchester and Chelsea.
The new plan eliminates the need for the bus driver to drive down long roads to pick up students, district officials said. Frayer said that one family had a student picked up at the end of a private road ¾ miles long last year. This year, that family will have to drive up to two miles to the nearest bus stop.
Superintendent David Killips said that just the elimination of stops has saved the Chelsea school district about $45,000.
“We’ve eliminated about three regular bus routes,” said Killips, noting that though bus stops have been eliminated, no drivers are being laid off.
Three bus drivers had been laid off, but have since been recalled due to the retirement of other bus drivers. Other drivers are currently being hired from the substitute list.
The bus drivers also took concessions to help the district save money, said Killips.
Drivers accepted a 7 percent pay cut and accepted a new health-care plan, he said.
In a further cost-saving effort, Chelsea is working with the Washtenaw Intermediate School District to save money on repairs, supplies and fuel.
“Filters, tires and fuel will be bought through the consortium,” said Killips. “Just about anything you can think of, we looked at to see if it would be a cost saving.”
Comments
jns131
Fri, Aug 27, 2010 : 4:37 p.m.
If you get the answer let me know as well because this happened in Ann Arbor. Custodians took a huge hit and the bus drivers eliminated before they could do anything about it. Teachers took a 2% pay cut but will recoup their losses in 5 years. Go figure if the district is still cutting what it can to keep the teachers happy. Good luck keeping your transportation department because I really don't see them keeping them on the budget much longer. Sell outs bite. As I have said before, time to think about car pooling and eliminating busing altogether.
jlove
Fri, Aug 27, 2010 : 12:44 p.m.
The Chelsea Bus Drivers took a pay cut to help out the school district with the budget crisis. Come to find out, they are the only ones who did this - both administrators and teachers received raises in this budget crisis time. Can someone tell me why, then, are these services being cut?
RuralMom
Thu, Aug 26, 2010 : 1:22 p.m.
Agreed Chelseamom! My Baby graduated last year, however had kidney issues, her driver once stopped her route and brought my daughter to our door (instead of following the usual route). You can't get that kind of care from people who don't live within the community. Right now they ended service on Madden Road, leaving my neice and nephew to walk out to N.Territorial, can't get a call back to resolve the issue, however it a solution must be there, verses a 9 and 11 yr old out on a main road!
chelseamom
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 : 5:35 p.m.
jns131 As far as the 2 mile drive thing, we have very rural parts of our district. Some kids live over 10 miles away from school.
jns131
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 : 4:38 p.m.
Its only a matter of time before Chelsea, Dexter and Manchester turn their transportation departments over to WISD to save money. No surprise here. Can't wait to see what is being slashed with Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Willow Run. Dexter did do the hub thing as well to save money. 2 mile drive? Might as well drive them to school. Seems logical to me.
chelseamom
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 : 7:46 a.m.
Chelsea has the best bus drivers. I live in the city and our drivers have gone out of their way for my kids. I will miss the pickup across the street but that's ok. I appreciate the bus drivers for making all of the sacrifices they did and the district for working hard to not privatized our buses.