Busing private school students no easy task
Old Bridge struggles to continue routes to 17 private schools
BY JESSICA SMITH
Staff Writer

OLD BRIDGE - The township's school district is having greater difficulty finding transportation for the more than 1,000 students it transports to private schools.

As a result, it is possible that parents of students who attend private schools might have to seek out transportation for their children for the coming school year.

The Old Bridge Board of Education's transportation department is hoping to find ways to get the students to and from their schools, but a state-mandated allocation per student for busing costs has fallen below what most bus companies want to be paid.

"I don't want to leave people in the lurch," said Denise Capasso, director of transportation for the Old Bridge School District.

The state allows $826 for each private school student's transportation each year. For nearby schools with high enrollment like St. Ambrose on Throckmorton Lane, or St. John Vianney High School in Holmdel, bus companies are willing to take the routes, because it is worth their while with both the volume of students and the brevity of the trip, Capasso said.

"Contractors fight over runs like that," Capasso said. "You don't have a problem covering those routes."

With much smaller numbers of students attending some private schools, bus companies simply do not want the routes, because it is not a money-making proposition for them. For example, only two students from Old Bridge attended St. Stanislaus Kostka School in Sayreville last year, Capasso said. In a town that spans 45 square miles, the few students attending such schools often live far from one another, posing yet another problem in securing busing for them.

Last year, Capasso said, the school district did not receive bids from any of 25 different bus companies for the private school routes. The department had to put several private schools on each route to persuade companies to take them, Capasso said.

"I scrambled and did the best I could to get them transported," Capasso said.

By state law, if the cost of busing private school students exceeds the allotted $826, the district must provide the parents with that money, as "aid in lieu of" transportation. Capasso said most other area school districts are doing just that.

"We're the only district still transporting to private schools," Capasso said. "My job is not to pay you a check. My job is to get your kids to school."

According to Capasso, Old Bridge is the fourth largest transporting district in the state, busing more than 12,000 students total, with 1,048 attending 17 private schools.

Capasso recently sent a letter to parents informing them of the situation, and asking that they return a form stating whether their children would be attending private school in the coming year. Though the form was due by March 10, Capasso said, many parents have yet to return it to the private schools, which in turn were supposed to have submitted it to the transportation department by March 15.

Without that information, the district is unable to move forward in seeking busing for these students, Capasso said. By Aug. 1, parents have to be notified of what, if any, busing will be provided for their private school students.

Since the letter was sent, Capasso said she has received a bevy of communications from parents who are concerned and upset about the situation.

"It's not my law, it's the state law. It has nothing to do with the budget, it has nothing to do with Old Bridge. It's the law," Capasso said. "I'm very, very dedicated to serving this town and these children."

Gas prices are a large factor in the busing conundrum, according to Capasso. Adding to the problem is the fact that many private schools start their day at 8 a.m., which does not give bus drivers the ability to take on routes before or after dropping off students at that time.

Old Bridge has served for many years as a host district for others nearby that do not bus their private school students, which helps to resolve the issue to some extent. Students from Monroe, Sayreville, Matawan and East Brunswick come to Old Bridge bus stops to be transported in what is referred to as a jointure, Capasso said. The township also buses some special-needs students from other districts.

If a private school is farther than 20 miles out of the district, state law says the town is not responsible for transportation of its students, Capasso said.

Capasso pointed out that the Old Bridge Board of Education's transportation department was rated second in Middlesex County in efficiency, and that it is doing everything possible to secure safe and efficient transportation for all of the district's children within the constraints of the law.

"You can't possibly transport a child for $826, you can't," Capasso said. "Even if you did it in your own car."