WESTBROOK – Westbrook school department officials want to add a bus run for middle school kids after a reconfiguration of the district has left one bus filled to capacity.
“Having middle school kids three to a seat, is it safe? Is it legal? Yes. Is it the best way to do that? No,” said school Superintendent Marc Gousse this week.
Gousse said he intends to ask the School Committee for permission to hire a new bus driver for the district at the committee’s next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 26. Gousse said the district does not need to buy a bus, but the new driver would cost an estimated $30,000 a year in salary and benefits.
This year marks the first of a newly reconfigured school department, with a consolidated series of elementary schools, following the closing of Prides Corner School. As part of that process, fifth-graders throughout the district were moved out of the elementary school and into the middle school.
The reconfiguration, Gousse said, included a major retooling of the bus schedules throughout the city. While kids are getting to school on time safely, the new configuration leaves one middle school bus filled to its capacity of 72 kids.
While watching the kids get off buses at the school one day, Gousse said, he could see how crowded the one bus was.
“They were piling out of there like sardines,” he said.
The district has 52 bus runs to and from all schools, and 12 of those service the middle school. A typical bus, Gousse said, has 24 seats, which means he’d rather have 50 or fewer kids on a middle school bus.
“When you start going beyond 50, you’ve got more than two to a seat,” he said.
For middle-school kids in particular, Gousse said, it’s a problem, because they bring more onto the bus with them, such as larger backpacks, musical instruments and other items, than the elementary students do. High school kids carry a lot onto buses too, Gousse added, but many of them drive, which eases the burden.
“Middle school is your biggest challenge for that reason,” he said. “They bring more stuff, and they want their independence.”
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