Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry Some of the more than 100 people who attended a public engagement session for the Warren County School District’s reconfiguration process look at a projection of a transportation map of the school district while Transportation Manager Mike Kiehl talks about the changes each proposal would require.

There have been many concerns expressed about Warren County School District’s reconfiguration options. Many of those have related to transportation.

At a community engagement session Tuesday night, Transportation Manager Mike Kiehl detailed the changes that would be required for all of the possible reconfiguration plans in front of the school board.

“Transportation is a big deal in our district,” he said. “We cover about 10,000 miles every day the schools are open.”

“We’re going to walk through the different options that the board has been looking at from a transportation perspective,” he said.

There were some prerequisites in his evaluations. No student would be on a bus on a daily basis for more than one hour, one-way. Elementary and high school days would continue to start and end at the same times.

The cost of transportation is subsidized by the state at a rate of about 69 percent, he said. The district pays its transportation bills up-front and gets all but 31 percent back the following year.

“We’ve been spending about $5 million a year on transportation and the state’s been giving us about $3.4 million in subsidy,” he said.

Most of the options would cost the district more.

Moving Sheffield high school students to Warren Area High School would take one additional van, he said. “I have nine buses that transportation approx 450 students to Sheffield.”

“I would have 314 students going to K-8. I can cover that with six buses,” he said. Getting 140 high school students to WAHS would require the remaining three current buses and one van – which would gather students from the Cherry Grove area, he said.

Adding a van and putting more miles on three buses would add to the district’s expenditures.

“The total cost to WCSD, after reimbursement, will be $24,900,” Kiehl said.

Moving Youngsville’s high school to Eisenhower and Warren high schools would be more challenging and expensive.

“We use 11 buses to transport 475 kids to Youngsville Elementary School or Youngsville Middle High School,” Kiehl said.

Eight of those would still be needed to transport students in grades K-through-8.

“I will need four buses and five shuttle vans… to transport 173 students to Eisenhower High School, and a small bus and a shuttle van… to transport 26 students to WAHS,” he said.

The shuttle vans would collect far-flung students. “I’m going to be using vans to flood kids in to a main point to then transport them by bus,” he said. “We do this today, by the way. We’ll have a van that goes around the outlying areas of Tidioute, shuttle kids to TCCS that then ride a bus to Youngsville.”

“We do it,” he said. “It is possible. It does add a little bit of complexity. If one vehicle breaks down, you’re now affecting two vehicles.”

“The financial impact for me to add two additional buses and five additional vans, the total cost is going to be about $104,000… that is after reimbursement,” Kiehl said.

“This does require seven additional drivers,” he said. “Our driver pool is very tight.”

The district contracts with transportation companies for its busing needs, it does not own buses nor pay drivers directly.

A proposal to turn the Youngsville attendance schools into a K-12 campus like those at Sheffield and Eisenhower would save the district money.

“I’m not going to change anything” with respect to transportation, Kiehl said. There would be a few more students riding the bus to the campus.

“There would be about a $2,000 additional reimbursement if we go to a single campus in Youngsville because I’m going to be transporting more kids,” he said.

The option that would move Eisenhower’s high school students to Youngsville and Warren adds the most cost to the district, Kiehl said.

“Currently I have 17 buses that transport 646 kids to EMHS or EES,” he said. “It will almost split Eisenhower almost in the middle. Farmington and Pine Grove townships would go to Warren.”

Those 135 students would go to Warren on four buses.”

Another 105 would go to Youngsville on three buses.

“This plan requires me to add five additional buses,” he said. “The total cost after reimbursement would be $117,000.”

Kiehl also looked at what it would take to make the high schools have basically even numbers of students in them.

In the central attendance area, “I use 60 buses to transport 1,260 students,” he said. “Under this plan, going north, it adds 67 students to the Eisenhower population and I have to do that with two buses. Youngsville, we’re going to add 118 students. I can do this with three buses and one van. For Sheffield, I am going to capture 149 students on the east end of Warren. I would need three buses to do that.”

Those are not all “new” buses. “I can repurpose some buses.”

Multiple buses go through the same areas of higher population.

“On that east end of Warren I have about five buses picking up roughly 500 students,” Kiehl said.

Instead of all of them picking up both elementary and secondary students and heading toward Conewango Avenue, some would pick up only high school students and head east to Sheffield.

“I would only have to add one additional bus and one additional van,” he said. “The total cost would be $39,000 after reimbursement.”

“On every one of the options that you talked about, the ride time will be within that hour?” Board Member Joe Colosimo asked.

“That’s correct. Every one of them,” Kiehl said. “First pickup til drop-off at school will be one hour” or less.