Officials from the Washtenaw Intermediate School District and Ypsilanti Public Schools continued deliberating Monday night over proposed changes to address problems that surfaced in the countywide busing consolidation.

WISD's Brian Marcel, assistant superintendent for business services, and transportation director Tom Moore met with the school board to discuss several cost-saving measures regarding the district’s bus services. The district is a member of the WISD busing consortium, along with Willow Run and Ann Arbor schools.

Among the possible changes discussed were decreasing the maximum walking distance from home to school from 1.5 miles for all grades to a half-mile for elementary students and one mile for secondary students, instituting neighborhood bus stops for schools of choice students, eliminating out-of-district schools of choice routes and registering students who plan to ride the bus.

School officials continue to discuss changes to Ypsilanti's busing services.

The ability for students inside the district to choose which elementary school they attend continues to present a problem for WISD officials.

Moore said the consolidation of schools of choice bus stops — which would have students living in the Adams neighborhood and attending Estabrook Elementary School walk to Adams STEM Academy and catch a bus to Estabrook, for example — would help fill empty seats on the bus and allow for shorter bus trips.

“We’re running around with a thousand empty seats,” he said. “If we consolidate bus stops, it would shorten run times, it would fill bus seats and it could let us use less buses every day.”

Marcel said registering students to ride the bus so the district would know how many plan to taking advantage of bus services would be beneficial. However, the survey would have to be a “good document” to make sure it accounted for students who only rode the bus at certain times of the year or during inclement weather.

Board president David Bates asked about potentially changing bell times and the financial impact that would have. The WISD officials said savings could be realized if start times were spread out.

No decisions were made at Monday’s meeting on what actions to pursue, but it is anticipated that the WISD officials will meet with the board again in the near future to discuss the issues again.

Organizational Meeting

Prior to the regular board meeting, the school board held its annual organizational meeting to choose officers for the board.

Bates was re-elected as board president, with only Trustee Andy Fanta dissenting. Trustee Sarah Devaney nominated him.

“I appreciate the willingness of the board to allow me to continue in this position,” he said. “It’s my job to facilitate each board member to do their very best, and I look for your help in this role.”

Trustee Floyd Brumfield was unanimously selected as vice president of the board. David Houle, the district’s chief financial officer, was appointed treasurer of the board, and Karen Allen was appointed the board’s secretary.

Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.