School Board Says Yes to Buses

The board also talked about new elementary school schedules and a new compensation plan for administrators.

During a meeting with a lengthy agenda, the Centennial School Board Tuesday night approved the purchase of four 77-person school buses that will be added to help deal with the additional impact placed on the transportation department by the recently approved elementary school schedule. The four new buses, which are expected to be purchased from the lowest responsible bidder in the next few months, will be used along with five previously ordered yellow school buses to transport students from Willow Dale, McDonald and Davis Elementary. The schools will shift from a staggered schedule and, coming in September, will all begin at 8:45 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m. School Board President Dr. Andrew Pollock - who voted to approve the new schedule at …

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Board Approves New Elementary Schedule and Larger Tax Increase

All three elementary schools will start at 8:45 a.m. and dismiss at 3:30 p.m., aided by the purchase of four additional buses. A half-mill tax increase to the 2012-2013 budget will help pay for the vehicle purchases and operation expenses.

Monday's special school board meeting ended with a set schedule for the elementary schools and a slightly larger tax increase for the 2012-2013 budget. As adopted in the new resolution, Willow Dale, McDonald and Davis Elementary will all begin the school day at 8:45 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m. The district will purchase four new buses and retain five, adding a total of nine vehicles to the fleet to assist with transporting the elementary students. The directors also mandated that no elementary student spend more than 40 minutes on the bus. In order to pay for the purchase of the new buses and their operating expenses, including drivers, a mechanic, projected parts for repair and the cost of adding security measures to a parking lot that the …

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Ad Hoc Committee Unable to Find Viable Alternative Bell Schedule

The school board will vote on the originally proposed elementary schedule at a special meeting on June 18.

Following more than two weeks of analyzing data, discussing various scenarios and running simulations, Centennial's ad hoc committee on the elementary bell schedule could not create a workable solution to the controversial issue. In a blog posted Thursday evening on the Centennial web site, committee chair Mark Miller wrote the following: After reviewing the several parameters given for the committee's narrow scope, the various members began the task of reviewing the results presented by the District's Transportation Supervisor. None of those options were consistent with the directive given to the committee at its formation. With no viable alternative, the school board will vote on the current proposed schedule change during a specially …

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Ad Hoc Committee Enters Final Stages

A blog post by one of the Centennial school directors says that results from a computer model simulation may be completed in time for the June 12 school board meeting.

District Considers Combining Public/Private School Bus Routes

Centennial's ad hoc committee on the elementary bell schedule has reached out to Nativity and Our Lady of Good Counsel during its search for a workable solution.

When the 2012-2013 school year starts in September, students from Davis Elementary may be sharing a bus with students from Our Lady of Good Counsel. Since its formation at the May 22 school board meeting, the ad hoc committee on the elementary bell schedule has met a few times at the district administration building to create a viable solution to a controversial problem. Members of the committee include parents and administrators from the three regional elementary schools, district administrators, school board directors and representatives from the transportation department. According to blog posts on the Centennial web site, members of the committee are confident they can create a new schedule that does not have any of the three …

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School Board Tables Schedule Decision, Forms Ad Hoc Committee

Parents and representatives from each of the elementary schools are asked to participate in the search for a solution to the contentious issue before the June 4 operations committee hearing.

The controversy surrounding the revised elementary bell schedule continued Tuesday night with a 5-4 vote to table the issue for further analysis. An ad hoc committee comprised of school directors, administrators, representatives from each school and parents will be formed to brainstorm ideas and try to come up with a solution agreeable to all. School board president Dr. Andrew Pollock tasked the new committee to present alternatives at the June 4 operations committee meeting, then, if approved, at the June 12 school board meeting. Several school board members and parents in the audience were skeptical that a new committee could form, meet and produce a solution within the 14-day deadline. "Keep in mind that we have Memorial Day weekend …

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Finance Committee Approves Staggered Bell Schedule

Willow Dale parents passionately voiced their concerns about the potential negative effects the later dismissal time would have on their after school lives.

Following a tense two-and-a-half hour discussion between school directors, administrators and parents, the Centennial Finance Committee approved 2-1 the originally proposed new bell schedule for the elementary schools. If the schedule passes through the full school board at its meeting tonight at 7 p.m., the following would take effect in September: Several factors forced the district to analyze the bus routes and come up with a plan that would prevent elementary students from waiting up to 30 minutes after dismissal time for transportation home. The closing of three neighborhood schools, Leary, Longstreth and Stackpole, means that children that normally walked to school now needed bus service. The location of Willow Dale on a busy road …

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HONEST MOM

9:29 am on Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Tired I think you've hit this one on the head.....Mr. Robinson is not able to do his job efficiently. If he can't ....then replace him! Personally I'm tired and frustrated with this school board making decisions for my children without proper consideration for what I want for my children. I'm the parent...not the school board! I'm sure many, many parents are just as frustrated! I intend to see …   more ›

Bell Schedule Discussion Continues

Four options for the revision of Centennial School District's elementary school bell schedule will be presented at Monday's finance committee meeting.

According to the agenda for Monday's Finance Committee meeting, members of the school board will review and discuss four options for revising the bell schedule for 2012-13. This discussion stems from a proposal realeased last month to change  the bell schedules at its elementary schools for the 2012-13 school year. That initial proposal was met with a large amount of opposition from parents and members of the community.  The discussion was tabled and was set to be reopened at an Operations Committee meeting on Monday, May 7; however, the district had not received the alternate plans in time and had to reschedule the discussion. Some other noteworthy items on Monday evening's finance committee meeting agenda: discussion of several …

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Bell Schedule Absent from Meeting Agenda

The Centennial School Board had planned to discuss impending changes to the elementary school bell schedule at Monday evening's Operations Committee Meeting, but the item did not make the agenda.

Centennial School District recently proposed a change in the bell schedules at the elementary schools for the 2012-13 school year. The plans were met with much opposition from parents of children in the district. Following the large amount of feedback the district received, the school board voted to table the idea for discussion at a future meeting. Initially, the discussion was set to be reopened at an Operations Committee meeting scheduled for Monday, May 7.  In an email to district parents dated Friday, May 4, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jennifer Cressman said the district has "not yet received the alternate plans" that were requested. Therefore, the bell schedule discussion scheduled for tonight's Operations Committee meeting has …

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