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Consultant warns major realignments would raise transportation costs; recommends bell‑time harmonization
Summary
Ross Haber consultant Tim Ammon presented two grade‑alignment scenarios and transportation analyses, finding a paired‑school option infeasible and an alternative boundary workable for facilities but requiring 7–8 extra buses; the consultant recommended maintaining current alignments while harmonizing bell times to limit bus cost increases.
Ross Haber & Associates consultant Tim Ammon presented findings from the district alignment project, which examined five‑year enrollment projections, facility capacity and boundary/grade‑alignment alternatives.
Ammon said a ‘paired‑school’ option (PK–K at LG, grades 1–2 at JCS, grades 3–5 at Yellow) fails three criteria: inadequate classroom capacity, worse class‑size outcomes and materially higher transportation costs. He recommended against adopting that model.
An alternative boundary scenario that realigns existing elementary boundaries and places grades 1–4 at JCS and Yellow with grade 5 moving to the middle school was feasible from a facilities and class‑size perspective, Ammon said. However, the move would create significant new transportation demand: an estimated seven to eight additional buses, at approximately $90,000 per bus per year, producing an annual cost increase in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Because transportation constraints largely drive the cost differences, the consultant recommended retaining current grade alignments while pursuing harmonized bell times and a two‑tier bus system. That approach, Ammon said, would require about 70 minutes between tiers to allow vehicles to complete runs and return; under that strategy the district could limit growth in bus counts to one or two additional buses over time rather than the seven‑to‑eight bus surge tied to the boundary change.
Committee members asked follow‑up questions about schedule permutations, tiering options, preschool transport and the feasibility of capital renovations (additions or repurposing spaces). Ammon noted that closing a school would also affect MSBA reimbursements for past projects and that capital renovations or additions would carry significant up‑front debt and community decisions.
The consultant urged further community engagement, additional modeling with the district’s transportation vendor, and staff discussions about small adjustments (for example, trimming inter‑bell gaps by five minutes) that might reduce bus needs. The committee agreed to continue the conversation and to consult transportation contractors as the next step.
