Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transportation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee reviews early data on new start times; transportation staff to collect more runs before changes
Summary
The school committee received an update on the district’s start‑time changes and bus routing. Staff reported generally positive early feedback from secondary students, but transportation data is incomplete; the district will collect more runs and may propose small mid‑year timing adjustments if they would reduce student ride time.
The Westford School Committee heard an update Sept. 22 on the district’s new school start times and on‑going transportation monitoring.
District staff said 6–12 start‑time and routing changes are operating with fewer complaints and that transportation performance at the high school and middle schools appears improved. “Things are just more chill in the morning,” Principal Toomey (as cited by staff) reported from anecdotal student feedback. The district’s student representatives echoed that sentiment: one said the later start has translated to more morning time and that she feels “more awake” in early classes.
Transportation staff and committee members noted that the data set presented so far is a snapshot and not yet a representative average. The district is running 34 bus routes for current operations while contract language supports up to 35 routes; committee members asked staff to clarify why one contracted route is not in daily use and whether activity‑run buses are displacing elementary route capacity.
District staff highlighted a few operational observations from the initial data: average drive times for many routes were in the mid‑20‑minute range (WA average ~27 minutes), but several runs showed marked differences between morning and afternoon travel times, with some morning rides 8–11 minutes longer. Committee members and staff discussed likely causes — congestion during morning rush hour, route geometry, and loading patterns at schools — and agreed to collect more days of route timestamps and vendor/driver reports before proposing schedule changes.
Possible adjustments considered included: 5–10 minute shifts in start or dismissal times for selected elementary schools, aligning schedules for two nearby elementary schools so runs can be split and swapped, and shrinking loading windows where school principals agree it would not disrupt families. Staff emphasized that any change would be communicated widely and that a mid‑year timing tweak is possible if data show a clear, beneficial effect.
No vote was taken. Staff said they will return with additional days of route data, vendor clarifications about run assignments and a recommendation (if warranted) at a future meeting. The committee asked staff to include details on route assignments, which buses are dedicated to activities, and the frequency of late‑bus incidents in the next update.
