School bus routes are reinstated

By Jeff O'Brien

Friday, Oct. 10, 2008 | midnight

For the first three weeks of the school year, teachers, administrators and parents at Kathy L. Batterman Elementary School had to deal with a sharp increase in traffic before and after school.

The school lost bus service for more than 500 of its students, but the service was reinstated on Sept. 15 by the Clark County School District's Transportation Department.

What could have originally been described as "organized chaos" is now beginning to die down, said Principal Sandra Abston.

"All of a sudden we were looking at 500 more children who needed to be picked up and we had to revamp our procedures," Abston said. "It's still crowded out here, but it has calmed down over the past two weeks. There is a noticeable difference."

Since Batterman Elementary opened in 2005, the school was assigned five school busses, but the number was temporarily reduced to two.

Typically, only students who live two or more miles from their school are eligible for bus service, said Doug Geller, School District transportation director.

Children who live within two miles are often driven by their parents or walk to and from school.

But at newer schools such as Batterman, those who live within the 2-mile radius could be eligible because the school hasn't yet met the district's standards for adequate crosswalks, signage and crossing guards.

District "transportation investigators," or TIs, visit newly constructed campuses and determine whether there is ample signage, crosswalks and crossing guards based on the local streets, intersections and traffic.

"At first, we thought they had what they needed to be safe within two miles. But we reinstated those busses because they still don't have an adequate number of crossing guards," Geller said.

The funding for additional crossing guards would have to be approved by the Clark County School Board, Geller said, followed by additional inspections by the Transportation Department.

"If we go out there again and find that those streets are now safer, we'd tell all the parents that due to upgraded walking paths, we're pulling bus service within two miles," he said.

The three busses were brought back into the rotation at Batterman on Sept. 8.

Assistant Principal Jennifer Boccia said she was surprised at how well the school handled the temporary increase in traffic.

"Even with only two busses, our campus was cleared out within 15 minutes of dismissal," she said. "It maybe increased by five minutes from the year before. It wasn't as big of an impact as we thought it would be."

Nevertheless, teachers and administrators directing traffic had to deal with parents double-parking, stopping for extended periods in the roundabout and parking in red zones.

"I think some parents were upset at how strict we were in keeping cars moving, but 95 percent of our parents are appreciative," Abston said. "Jennifer and I are out there every afternoon with stop signs in our hands. They know we're just trying to make it safe for our kids."

Parents wishing to get out of their cars and meet their kids when they pick them up should arrive early — at least 20 minutes before the bell rings at 3:11 p.m. Those who pick them up at the car door and keep driving, Boccia said, should arrive just prior to the final bell.

"Some days we all get a little frustrated," Boccia said. "We have 1,000 kids and there's not a real easy answer to get 1,000 kids out of the building. But yesterday it took only nine minutes."

Jeff O’Brien can be reached at 990-8957 or [email protected].