Thursday, August 28, 2008

Parents, Students, and Bridgewater-Raritan Busing

On Wednesday, September 3rd, thousands of Bridgewater and Raritan kids will be outside awaiting the arrival of buses that will shepherd them to their schools for the first day of the 2008-2009 school year. For some young ones and their anxious moms, it will also be the first time that they are separated from the nest.

On Commons Way, in a small office next to the Transportation and Maintenance garage, there is a dedicated staff of four people who have spent much of their time since school closed in June, gathering information about your kids and entering it into a sophisticated computer queuing program that matches up all of the information to place your children on the right bus, at the right time. The results are reviewed for accuracy.

For the most part, given the complexity and logistics of matching up individual bus capacity and most efficient routing with specific students, time, pick-up location, and specific school destination, the process should proceed smoothly.

However, be prepared for glitches. They do happen. Most of the time, they are minor. Sometimes, but rarely, they are not. Either way, you can expect that the phone lines into the Bridgewater-Raritan Schools Transportation Department will be jammed for at least a week or two.

If something doesn’t go quite right for your kids and you need to make contact with your school and the transportation department, here’s some advice that is virtually guaranteed to get you a better outcome: More bees are attracted with a little honey; none with vinegar.

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