District staff presented transportation options on Jan. 8 tied to a grant-driven plan to transition Betsy Ross (BROMS) into a high school. The change requires adjustments to the district’s tiered bus system and carries material cost implications.

"If we were to move BROMS to the 1st tier with dedicated buses ... it would cost us an additional $2,200,000," a district transportation official said, describing a scenario with eight New Haven-operated buses and ten out-of-district buses dedicated to BROMS students. The official added that the district’s tiers place most high schools on the first tier, which runs earlier and uses buses not shared with other tiers.

Staff presented an alternate plan to combine BROMS routes with those of ESAMS, an existing early-start middle/high program. That option, which would share buses between the two schools, would raise costs by roughly $150,000 compared with current operations but avoid the multi-million-dollar increase of fully dedicated service.

District staff noted the schools are about 2.3 miles apart — roughly a nine-minute drive — and said route overlap and scheduling adjustments could allow shared buses to serve both sites. The presentation also proposed phasing in grades as the conversion proceeds: BROMS would add grades over several years rather than converting immediately to a full high school.

Staff said the change could allow BROMS students to participate in high-school athletics and seek internships or jobs earlier, rather than waiting until later grades. Committee members asked that the presentation be posted to BoardDocs and shared with school planning teams (SPMTs) and parents for further input. No formal action was taken; staff will continue analysis and community outreach before a final recommendation to the full board.

The committee asked staff to post the transportation slides to board materials and labeled the shared-route option as the lower-cost scenario under current constraints.