School start times changed for 2008-2009
By Melissa Muntz Community Reporter

Shrewsbury - The Shrewsbury School Committee unanimously voted to change school start times for the upcoming school year despite repeated requests to delay a vote from St. Mary's Elementary School parents who are concerned about how the change will affect bus routes.

The district's contract with AA Transportation will expire in June, and Business Services Director Anne Mahan found that adjusting the start times at various schools would allow the district to cut 25 minutes of bus service per day, saving the district $160,000 in transportation costs.

The proposed change would push back the high school, both middle schools and Coolidge Elementary School start times by 10 to 15 minutes, while moving up the start times at Paton, Floral Street and Spring Street elementary schools by 15 minutes.

The adjustment in times would allow the district to cut the number of buses needed to transport regular education, Special Education and private school students to school each day from 47 to 45.

More than a dozen St. Mary's School parents attended the Jan. 9 School Committee meeting to oppose the vote, saying they were concerned about how the district planned to adjust routes to accommodate fewer buses.

Parents who spoke at the meeting expressed the most concern about a proposal that would have St. Mary's students and St. John's students riding the bus along with public school students.

Parents cited concerns about increased commute times, safety issues created by more students on each bus, teasing that might exist between uniformed and non-uniformed students, and the idea that there could potentially be high school seniors riding the bus with kindergarten students.

"Where else in town does that scenario happen?" parent Bob Terry asked.

School officials repeatedly reminded the parents that the vote on school start times was not coupled with a change in the busing schedule and was a necessary step to move forward with the bidding process.

"With gas over $3 a gallon, we are very fearful of what increase we're going to see … so we're looking for any way to mitigate the increase we're going to see in a new bid," Superintendent Dr. Anthony Bent said.

The committee assured the parents that they would be open to parent feedback and alternative solutions before a decision is made.

"We're all parents, we're going to do the right thing and you can be assured of that," School Committee member Mark Murray said.