Syosset board reviews bus study as it weighs later high‑school start time

Superintendent Dr. Rogers told the Syosset Central School District Board of Education that a transportation consultant study shows only a small set of feasible changes to start times without large tradeoffs in cost, bus reliability or elementary‑school childcare coverage.

The consultant examined ridership and routing and produced several scenarios for later high‑school start times, Rogers said. The preferred option would swap which tiers run first so middle schools depart before the high school; a tighter variant would gain slightly later starts but risk cascading late buses because of short turnaround windows, he said.

Why it matters: Research cited by the district suggests later high‑school starts can increase student sleep and have health and safety benefits; changing start times also affects athletics, after‑school programs, childcare and the district’s transportation costs and operations.

Key findings presented to the board included counts of routes and runs and patterns of ridership. Rogers said the district is universal‑busing and the system includes roughly 119 routes and about 610 daily bus runs; some route counts mentioned in the study were 73 high‑school buses, 72 middle‑school buses and 81 elementary buses. The consultant reported short turnaround times between tiers — about 20 minutes between some dismissal tiers and 29 minutes between others — with an average run duration near 20 minutes, which leaves little slack for delays.

Rogers said the study modeled at least two plausible alternatives and several creative, less practical options. Scenario 1 would have middle schools dismiss before the high school to create larger “work time” windows between tiers; Scenario 1a keeps a similar ordering but with shorter turnaround windows and therefore greater risk of late buses. Other creative ideas examined included combining secondary tiers (high school and middle school together) or routing high‑school and middle‑school runs together because two middle schools sit on opposite sides of town. The consultant concluded that most gains require either significantly more buses and drivers or longer student bus rides.

Rogers also discussed potential operational responses: small schedule shifts (for example, moving every tier 10–15 minutes later), increasing bus staging and loading capacity on campus, and technology such as GPS tracking and a parent app. He noted Huntington Coach now places cameras on buses and has GPS capability; the district tested a parent app but found the prototype immature and asked the vendor for alternatives.

Board members and staff pressed on details: how interscholastic athletics and after‑school activities would be preserved, whether mileage limits (who qualifies for free busing) could be changed by voter referendum, and how many drivers could realistically be freed by rerouting small nearby runs. Transportation staff and Rogers said changing mileage limits requires a public vote and that contracting patterns (five‑hour driver contracts) and a national shortage of drivers limit quick fixes.

Several board members suggested smaller interim changes — for example, moving the entire schedule 10–15 minutes later — and asked the administration to study a 9 a.m. high‑school start option modeled after nearby districts that have later starts. Rogers said the next step would be targeted public engagement: surveys of families and staff, union conversations and focused outreach to students and parents before the board is asked to act.

“What you have are a group of trade‑offs to look at, and to weigh,” Rogers told the board, summarizing the study’s conclusion that no option is free of operational compromises.

The board did not vote on a schedule change at the meeting. Rogers and transportation staff were asked to return with a written set of options — including a 9 a.m. high‑school scenario, the simple 10–15 minute shift, and an engagement plan for public input — and to report back after further analysis.