School bus routes for the middle school and Pulaski Street school will be combined next year to save money.
The two schools, which each house about 700 students — fifth and sixth grades at Pulaski and seventh and eighth grades at the middle schools — will have their start and end times adjusted so that the bus routes can be consolidated, Schools Superintendent Nancy Carney said at the Board of Education meeting Wednesday night.
The school day at each school is already very close, Carney said.
The middle school day currently begins at 8:09 a.m. and ends at 2:31 p.m. Classes at Pulaski Street begin at 8:45 a.m. and end at 3:25 p.m. Carney did not provide specifics about how the school day at each school would be adjusted to allow for bus route consolidation.
Also, school bus stops will be consolidated and centralized next year.
"We're in a new era," Carney said. "We're living under this tax cap and things have to change. Expectations have to change," she said. "We have to educate the community about that."
Carney said the district would provide individualized information about bus stops and schedules to each student's family this year.
Carney said there will be assigned seating on the buses carrying fifth through eighth grade students. Fifth and sixth grade students would be assigned to the front of the bus, and seventh and eighth grade students seated behind them, to keep the older and younger children segregated.
Louis Passantino of Wading River, a Riverhead school bus driver who currently drives both Pulaski & middle school routes, expressed concern about the plan to combine the two runs into one.
He said there was a very wide range in behavior in children from fifth to eighth grades.
"I wouldn't want you guys to be counting beans and not know that the issue is safety," Passantino said.
Passantino also said his buses were full as it is.
"I can't imagine putting the two routes together," he said.
Overall, the district's transportation budget for 2012-2013 will be $5.8 million, a reduction of 4.95 percent, according to numbers presented by the superintendent as part of her overview of the proposed 2012-2013 budget for operations, maintenance and transportation. It was the second of several budget presentation sessions by the superintendent.
The district operates its own transportation department, which maintains and operates the district's 67 full-size buses, 28 vans and 10 wheelchair-accessible vehicles. It transports more than 5,000 students, including 500 students to private and parochial schools as required by state law, Carney said.
Riverhead's bus drivers drove nearly 1.5 million miles last year, Carney said.
"We're very proud of our transportation department," the superintendent said.
Carney also walked the board through the proposed budgets for operations and maintenance.
School custodians and maintenance staff — more than 50 full-time and part-time custodians and maintenance mechanics — tend the district's nine buildings, including seven schools, which total more than 700,000 square feet and about 200 acres of land. The district also employs a security staff of 18 people, Carney said.
The proposed budget for operations and maintenance in 2012-2013 is $7.6 million, a 1.15 percent reduction compared to 2011-2012, Carney said. One full-time position and one half-time position were eliminated in the budget proposal.