By Eric Maddy
The SCORE

The Rio Rancho school system hopes to be operating under a new two-tier bus schedule next year to provide safer and more efficient transportation within budget constraints.

District transportation director Theresa Saiz told the Rio Rancho Public School Board that the current three-tier system, which leaves only a 20-minute turnaround time for pick-up and delivery of students at the high-school/mid-high, middle school and elementary levels “is a setup for failure”  that is already negatively affecting student achievement and leaves the district liable for possible lawsuits.

Under the current system, Saiz said some high school students must be at their pickup spots before 6 a.m. (in the dark) and some elementary students aren’t being dropped off until after 5 p.m., (when it is almost dark during winter months). Because state funding hasn’t kept up with the growth in the district, schools now start on staggered schedules where drivers make six runs each day – to pick up and deliver students at the three levels.

The district is already doesn’t have enough bus drivers and Superintendent Sue Cleveland said those who do serve the district are frustrated because the current schedule is impossible to meet.

“Our drivers are telling us it used to be that parents would wave to them,” she said. “Now they say it is more likely the parents are irate because the bus is late. We’ve put them in an impossible situation.”

An additional 15 to 20 busses would be needed to go to a new two-tier system next year. Both Saiz and Cleveland said Dr. Veronica Garcia, the state’s Secretary of Education, promised 10 new busses for next year in a Jan. 9 meeting and hopes to be able to provide more, depending on Legislative funding.

When the school district opened in 1994, it adopted the three-tier system the Albuquerque Public Schools still uses today. At that time, the new Rio Rancho district inherited 49 busses to serve more than 5,000 students. It now has 99 busses to serve more than 11,000 students who are more spread out than ever, including 14 “spare” busses that are supposed to be kept in reserve because they are outdated or are supposed to be rotated in and out of the transportation plan while other busses are repaired.

The district has begun to implement the VeersaTrans Routing System, a computer program that analyzes transportation routes and ridership and creates a schedule that creates maximum efficiency. Saiz said she hopes to be able to take six “spare” busses out of the rotation when VersaTrans is fully implemented.

Part of the problem is that the district is growing so fast it is difficult to feed current data into the system to keep up with the need for more busses, routes and drivers. And as outlying housing developments such as Mariposa continue to grow away from existing schools, some route times have grown longer.

Saiz also noted that classroom disruptions from late-arriving students affect all students, including those already in the classroom. And it makes it almost impossible for hose students to get their breakfast at school to eat and get to class on time.

The opening of the new Cleveland High School in 2009 should help he district transportation issue, Saez said, because bus routes for both high schools and its feeder schools will be tied to half of town – north or south of Northern Boulevard – that will have shorter routes.

According to Saiz, 73 percent of the district’s students ride a bus to school. Because of the high ridership and scheduling, complaints to the district about transportation have increased significantly his year.

The board also approved a new policy banning the use of electronic devices during the school day by students except for emergencies. The definition of an emergency will be left to the judgment of the on-site administrator. A parental phone call saying “you forgot your lunch isn’t an emergency,” Cleveland said.

The policy defines an electronic device as “any and all device which accomplish their purposes electronically and include, without limitation, cell phones, pagers, electronic emailing devices (e.g. Blackberry), radios, tape players, CD players, DVD players, video cameras, iPod or other MP3 players, laser pointers, portable video game players, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cameras and any device that provides a wireless, unfiltered connection to the Internet.”

Students are not banned from having such devices or using them on school buses or extra curricular activity buses as long as they are not restricted by the school district staff member responsible for the students. Students may possess the devices on campus, but they must be turned off and stored in a backpack, purse, locker or vehicle.

The first time a student violates the policy, the device will be confiscated and turned into the administration office. After a second offense, a parent or guardian is required to claim the device. Upon a third offense, the device will be confiscated for the rest of the school year, and any unclaimed property will be disposed of by the district. Students who violate the policy repeatedly may also face disciplinary action.

Board members also heard a brief presentation from former athletic director Gary Tripp, who is now executive director of the New Mexico Activities Association, on policy suggestions for a smooth transition as students move from Rio Rancho High to Cleveland High.