Question Jay Niedzielski:
"After I spoke at the conclusion of the board of education meeting last Monday night, you approached me and said that I should reach out to you with any concerns moving forward regarding the actions of students on the buses.
As I prefaced my statement Monday evening, I believe the administrators and the entire staff at Myers Corners Elementary School are exceptional when it comes to holding students accountable for their actions and providing a safe and sound environment for the children of the district. I have a (step son) and a son who attend.
However, it is my strong belief that any district that does not employ monitors for the school buses are turning a blind eye to a major issue. By not employing monitors, schools are providing students with an unsupervised environment. Bullying and improper behavior (is) only fostered by this type of environment.
I mentioned that we are blessed that my older child has always felt free to discuss any matters with us. Through the years, there have been situations that I believe would not have happened if a monitor was on the bus. The latest action is that a 3rd grader taught my kindergarten child to raise his middle finger. I do not put one ounce of blame on the driver, because it is, and only should be, their responsibility to transport the students safely in regards to being alert on the roadways.
I am fully aware that money plays a huge role in everything, and employing monitors is not something you simply do overnight. All that I would like to see occur, is that this matter is at least discussed at (board of education) meetings. That is why I copied the board of education on this e-mail.
In an ideal situation, I would like to see the public at least be given an approximate amount of money it would cost in increased taxes per household, and then be given an opportunity to vote on whether or not to employ monitors."
Response from Kristen Crandall:
Again thank you for your email. Your supportive words pertaining to the WCSD staff are nice to hear and much appreciated.
You do reference in your email a need for monitors on school vehicles. To provide a little background, monitors do ride vehicles where students with Individualized Education Plans (IEP's) require it for their own safety. Many times there are other students who ride these vehicles along with the students with IEP's due to the close proximity of bus stops and/or family members and/or other extenuating circumstances. Please note that this is the exception and not the norm.
Every vehicle in the WCSD fleet has a camera system installed. This was successfully completed in the 2016-2017 school year through the support of the Board of Education and the community through the voter-approved budget. These cameras cost about $250,000 and have proven very helpful in enhancing children's safety while on the vehicles. Our large vehicles can carry as many as 72 passengers and again it is not the norm for the vehicles to be loaded that fully but sometimes that does occur and the cameras are an added safeguard.
I will provide the cost range for salaries only IF the Board of Education were to indicate that monitors would ride on every school vehicle (This is based on 180 school days and 6 hours per day):
Currently, we have 39 monitors. The salary amount for 39 monitors in 2017-2018 ranges between $408,564 and $769,954. These amounts are budgeted and currently being paid from the 2017-2018 budget for these staff members.
The Transportation Department has 252 vehicles. Simple math based on the above number of monitors shows that 213 vehicles would need to be addressed. Using the same factors above, the range in salaries for these additional 213 staff members would be $2,252,340 to $4,244,616.
As stated these amounts are for salary only and not any of the related fringe benefits as dictated by current contract language and NYS and Federal regulations.
This information is being shared with the Board of Education as well for future discussions on the 2018-2019 budget.
Additional settings for Safari Browser.
