The Granville Board of Education has agreed unanimously to continue operating its double-bus-runs established during the Covid-19 pandemic, even though it will cost more to do so.
Providing the pros and cons for the double-tier run, school superintendent Tom McGurl said at the board’s March 14 meeting that the “biggest negative,” along with difficulty with sports runs and flexibility in arrival and departure times, is the increased cost to the district.
“Between fuel and salaries, we are estimating, or guesstimating right now with the fuel costs for next year, that would approximately be to go from a single-run to a double-run next year, pre- (state) aid, approximately $180,000. Post- (state) aid, $18,000,” McGurl said.
“When you do the aid on that the number significantly lowers, but it’s still an increase in cost and remember, with the aid you outlay that money next year, you get it back the year after. So you will be expending $180,000 roughly, that’s not the exact number.”
Looking at the benefits of the double-runs, McGurl said fewer buses on the road would be a by-product of that decision. This ultimately aligns with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed plan of having zero-emission buses on the road statewide by 2035.
“The advantage to the double-run, it does provide (transportation department head) Tyler Kelly increased flexibility post-Covid. Right now, it’s really tight with the Covid but coming out of that post-Covid he will have a lot more flexibility in scheduling drivers and we will need less buses over time as well,” McGurl said.
“That’s not that we are going to need less-cost drivers or have to lay bus drivers off. It gives us a flexibility that we’re not going to need our mechanic out driving or Tyler out driving, where quite frankly most days, one of the mechanics helps or the mechanic or Tyler are driving, if not all three sometimes.”
McGurl added that the district accounted for two bus runs in the 2022-23 budget development process prior to the discussion of weighing their options.
“There are advantages and disadvantages of single-run versus double-run, without a question. Single-tier bus runs, I think there’s a whole bunch of levels we can go into but general mile-high stuff, there is less cost but there is more flexibility for the buildings if we are single-tier in scheduling when kids arrive and depart from school because we are not acting by a double-run. It does give us more flexibility for sports,” McGurl said.
“There is decrease, a negative, decreased flexibility for Tyler in run scheduling and we have seen historically, Covid isn’t really a great example but pre-Covid, putting all of the kids on the bus at the same time, Kindergarten all the way up through seniors all on the same bus, tends to lead to a lot more behavioral problems than having them split up. And that’s not just a slight (observation), we’ve noticed a significant difference between the two.”
Going back to the history of transitioning to single-runs in the first place, McGurl said he learned over time as superintendent that the monetary savings were the driving force in that decision.
“My understanding, and I wasn’t here, is you went to a single-run for financial reasons. It wasn’t because ‘we don’t like the double-runs’ or ‘it’s not working’, it was finances,” McGurl said.
