Sullivan West bus runs demand attention

By KIMBERLY M. WEYANDT

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY — Despite the intention of the administration at Sullivan West, two of the bus runs during the first week of school were well over an hour. With the second week half over, school officials are saying that the times have improved and are asking parents to not lose hope.

Wendy Julkerski and her nine-year-old son Austin live in Beaver Brook. Austin is the first student to be picked up and the last one dropped off on Sullivan West’s route number 7. According to the route schedule, he should be picked up at 7:30 a.m. and arrive at school by 8:00, and he should be dropped off after leaving school at 4:20 p.m.

So far the morning and afternoon trips have not met the parameters.

“The first day at school Austin was picked up five minutes early and didn’t get to school until 9:15 a.m.,” Julkerski said. “He didn’t get home until 5:35 p.m.”

The following day Austin was dropped off at school at 8:50 a.m. and was back home by 5:10 p.m.

“It’s extremely ridiculous,” said Julkerski. “I have a girlfriend who lives two stops from me. She has a kindergartener and she is beside herself when she gets home. She’s not used to school, stressed and has to hold it for an hour and a half.”

Doreen Wyss’ nine-year-old son Francis is also on Sullivan West bus route seven.

“I’ve been keeping a log about what time he’s being picked up,” Wyss said. “He hasn’t gotten to school on time yet.”

Wyss followed the bus on the first day of school to find out what roads it would be taking. Driving the route herself takes her anywhere from 35 to 40 minutes, which leaves her wondering how the bus would ever finish the trip in 40 minutes since it has to make stops.

“I just don’t see how it’s possible,” Wyss said. “And he can’t get to school late every day. He’s missing out on things.”

“My hope is that it’s going to get better,” said Sullivan West School board member Jennifer Mann, whose daughter Grace was also enduring long bus rides the first week of school.

“I saw them out Sunday running the routes,” Mann said, adding, “Things are happening, things are definitely happening.”

At the school, the one-hour bus challenge is not over. Although runs exceeded time limits the first week, administrators continue their efforts to meet the goal.

“Overall we’re very pleased with transportation at this point, but there are some glitches,” said Superintendent Alan Derry.

Derry said the situation boils down to two problems: “On the first day of the dismissal of schools, loading the buses took almost 45 minutes,” Derry said. Besides having to practice walking in straight lines and helping the students find the buses, things were complicated this year because of the number of children and the number of buses at the district’s Jeffersonville campus.

“We made some changes and the bus company made some changes, so by the end of the week everything should be running as we wish,” Derry said. The buses will now line up primarily in front of the building, in a staggered fashion, so they will take up less space. This will make it easier and more expedient for teachers to get the kids on their buses, Derry said.

Second, there were two buses from the Narrowsburg area that were running 50 minutes late, Derry said. When constructing the new bus routes, the administration had considered the northern regions to be their biggest concern, but the problematic runs turned out to be in the Narrowsburg area.

Although part of the challenge involved getting used to the new runs, the buses continue to run 10 minutes late in the second week.

“It’s probably reasonable that parents were upset. We don’t want the kids on the buses any longer than they need to be,” Derry said.

When asked how the district planned to correct the problem, Derry said the routes would be divided between four buses instead of two.

“The hour is a reasonable expectation and we expect to be in it this week,” Derry said.