School Year Begins

With Bus Complaints

By Eliza Hallabeck

As middle school and high school students made their way out to their bus stops on Tuesday, August 28, for the first morning of school, reports were already coming through to The Bee that some bus runs in town were not on time, arriving either early or late.

By the second tier of bus runs, Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson was at Reed Intermediate School, welcoming students to a new year, but also monitoring the timing for new bus runs, which are overseen for the first time this school year by All-Star Transportation. Later in the morning, Dr Robinson reported there were some things to be tweaked.

Earlier The Bee asked people to share their “first morning of school” experiences, and by late in the afternoon, those stories shared news of parents waiting to after 5 pm for elementary school students to arrive home; others reported bus stop complaints, and a few related stories of a more routine first day of school.

All-Star’s Terminal Manager in Newtown Ed Bryan explained on Tuesday there were a number of things that led to the first day of school being rough. He also said, “We accept responsibility and we are very sorry for anyone we inconvenienced.”

Mr Bryan said the first day of school was handled by a coordinated effort, but with a new group of people.

He also said he knows the change to All-Star Transportation overseeing the regular education routes in town was a monumental change, and said everyone working for the company in town has the best of intentions and is working to respond to the number of issues that have been shared with them.

Tuesday morning students were nearly all smiles, and teachers were certainly showing enthusiasm at each of the schools, as the district’s principals reported.

Middle Gate Principal Christopher Geissler was not alone in saying Tuesday was a “busy and exciting day.” Each of the principals shared similar comments.

For more photos and greater detail about the first day of the new school year, see “2012-13 School Year Begins, With Some Showers And Transportation Issues,” on Page B5 this week.