The Deptford board of education provided attendees at its Aug. 19 meeting with insight on the school district’s preparations for the upcoming school year.
Business Administrator Ronald Latham Jr. described updates to transportation that are a response to complaints from residents at the start of school last year.
“(Transportation supervisor) Cheron Gamble and his staff have been working very hard to kind of piece things together,” Latham said. “Last year, I think we all recall, there was a motion to cut courtesy busing and then put it back together right before the school year.”
The total number of bus routes is about 25, according to Latham. The transportation department focused on those they thought would be the most efficient as they made busing plans, while drivers completed dry runs a week prior to the meeting.
Buses will now only focus on one neighborhood each, instead of having to pick up kids from different developments at once. The district now has 20 buses dedicated to those neighborhood routes, as opposed to nine last year.
The township’s plan was formulated with the feedback it got from residents who voiced their concerns about last year’s busing issues.
“We heard parents last year,” Latham noted. “We worked as a board, and we listened.”
“I think Mr. Gamble and his team, and the team of the transportation department, is the perfect mix of understanding, strategy, information and planning that this board needs and this community and district needs,” school Superintendent Kevin Kanauss remarked.
“I think going into this school year, we’ll be a lot better than we were last school year, and the school year before that.”
The school board also previewed at its meeting some of the physical changes that occurred over the summer, among them renovation of the high-school cafeteria.
“When our students get in there, there’s going to be a nice surprise,” promised board member and buildings and grounds chair Ed Kalinowski. “I’ve been popping in there every once in a while. It’s going to look very patriotic for the Spartans.
“It’s going to remind them of a modern-day food court,” he added. “Definitely looking forward to showing that off.”
Parents will be able to see the new cafeteria when the next board meeting is held there on Tuesday, Sept. 16, at 6:30 p.m.
