Board reviews transportation "bell time" study; asks administration to seek public feedback on several scenarios

Superintendent Dr. Maggie Vitale told the East Stroudsburg Area School District Board of Education on Oct. 20 that a district-conducted bell-time and routing study identified significant afternoon routing conflicts and a mismatch between morning and afternoon driver needs.

The study quantified the imbalance: the district’s current schedules require about 73 buses and drivers in the morning but about 112 in the afternoon. Vitale said the district currently has “in the nineties” drivers on staff, leaving a recurring shortfall in the afternoon. She summarized recommendations on routing, trip pairing, and seven timing scenarios designed to reduce afternoon driver needs and even out workloads.

Board members focused on three practical considerations: bus-driver staffing and route length, the district’s existing career-technical schedule (MCTI), and family/child-care impacts if start times change. Vitale said the study showed the district is broadly efficient but flagged specific long routes that are driven by direct-to-MCTI trips, out-of-district…