Dear members of the community,

 

As I mentioned in yesterday's e-mail, district administrative and transportation staff have spent all of today driving through as many subdivisions as they could visit.  Of the 22+ subdivisions served by the Saline Area Schools, they drove through five of them to examine more closely every aspect of distance, sight-lines, lighting and availability or absence of sidewalks.  Our greatest concern is for the safety of our children.  In addition, we are particularly focused on our youngest children in grades K-4.

 

Based on the work completed today, we will be adding additional bus stops in some subdivisions, with priority as follows:

 

·         No sidewalks

·         No street lighting

·         Student grade level/age of child

·         Clustering of students

 

After ranking needs according to the above four criteria, we will be scheduling additional bus stops in various locations throughout the subdivisions.  All subdivisions will be physically reviewed by this Friday.  We will then make adjustments as indicated above.

 

Please note the following: 

 

1.     These adjustments will be continually reviewed, based on actual students riding school buses.  This is similar to the adjustments that relate to class size.we do need to have an accurate count of not only those students who are entitled to bus service, but of those who actually wish to use it.  Many parents do indeed choose to drive their children to school for a variety of reasons.  In addition, if/where we see a large clustering of students, we will review bus stop placements to ensure that we have selected the most appropriate site for a stop, to serve the greatest number of students.  All of this means that there may be additional bus stop adjustments even after this first modification.

 

2.     We plan to give the list of additional bus stops to our drivers the first day of school, Tuesday, Sept. 4, because that is their first day of work.  This means that on Tuesday, Sept. 4, the bus stops WILL be those that were communicated to you officially by postcard. Before students leave the bus on Tuesday, they will be given notice of additional bus stops as rescheduled.

 

3.     The actual changes in bus stop location will begin to occur on the second day of school, Wednesday, Sept. 5. 

 

4.     If parents have questions about stop locations, they are requested to call the District Transportation Office at 429.8065.  Please be aware that there may be a high volume of calls during the first few days.  We will respond to all calls either in person or to voicemail messages as soon as possible.  We apologize for any delay experienced, but hope that all parents will understand the complexity of implementing these changes with all involved personnel.

 

Finally, I must reiterate the challenges and the realities that we all face.  Until and unless the Michigan Legislature funds public schools as needed, and addresses the two critical high cost burdens faced by all districts - health and retirement benefits - and the fundamental inequity of a system by which the state funds our public schools through an ineffective and faulty funding model based on Proposal A, more and more of our dollars will, by state mandate, be diverted away from direct and/or indirect service to children, in the classroom, on school buses, in athletics, etc.

 

"Quite honestly, we - like virtually all other public school districts in Michigan.can no longer afford the same level of support services as we provided just last year with today.s available funds.  Our first priority was, and is, and shall remain, teaching and learning in the classroom. At this very moment, as you know, we are struggling with large class sizes in the early grades".

 

I therefore urge all constituents of the Saline Area Schools to write our legislators to insist that they ACT!  NOW!

 

IT IS THEIR JOB TO FUND PUBLIC EDUCATION AND APPROPRIATE SERVICES FOR ALL CHILDREN IN THE STATE, INCLUDING ALL CHILDREN IN THE SALINE AREA SCHOOLS!

 

EDUCATION IS THE KEY TO MICHIGAN'S FUTURE.  COMPANIES WILL MOVE INTO AN AREA WHERE HIGHLY SKILLED INDIVIDUALS RESIDE - INSTEAD OF FAMILIES MOVING OUT.  BUT WITH FUNDS FOR EDUCATION DWINDLING AND THE COST OF SALARIES AND BENEFITS INCREASING, HOW DO WE CREATE THE NECESSARY PROGRAMS FOR OUR CHILDREN?

                       

State officials may be contacted as follows:

 

Names and addresses of our State Legislators

 

Senator Randy Richardville

P.O. Box 30036

Lansing, MI  48909-7536

senrichardville@senate.michigan.gov

 

Representative Pam Byrnes                         Representative Kathy Angerer

P. O. Box 30014                                             P. O. Box 30014

Lansing, MI  48909-7514                              Lansing, MI  48909-7514

pambyrnes@house.mi.gov                            kathyangerer@house.mi.gov

 

 

I thank you all sincerely, and pledge to respond to your concerns to the best of our abilities.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

 

Beverley B. Geltner, MBA, Superintendent

200 North Main Street

Saline, MI 48176

734.429.8001

geltnerb@saline.k12.mi.us