Wednesday, September 26, 2012
The bus situation has been resolved, according to the school department.
Students from Medford attending Minuteman High School won't be have a lengthy wait for the bus after school anymore, according to Medford school officials. Starting Oct. 1, a bus will arrive at the Lexington-based public regional high school at 2:30 p.m. -- the end of the school day -- to transport students home to Medford, according to an annoucement from the school deparment Tuesday. Starting this school year, Minuteman students from Medford originally had to wait until 3:30 p.m. for a bus home after funding for transportation to the school was cut by the Medford School Department. Initially, an MBTA pass was to be offered to students at the school, but after an outcry from parents, bus transportation was arranged. Medford Superintendent…
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Superintendent says cut was necessary.
Parents of Medford students who attend Minuteman Regional High School accused Superintendent Roy Belson of exposing their children to bullying, and bullying, himself, during Monday's Medford School Committee meeting. Medford Public Schools used to provide a bus exculsively for transportation to and from Minuteman, but that stopped this year in a cost-cutting move. Since Minuteman's first day on Aug. 27, a bus takes students to Minuteman about 6:30 a.m., returns to Medford to run Elementary school pick-ups and drop-offs, and returns to Minuteman about 3:30 p.m. to bring students back to Medford. But that leaves students at the school with about an hour between school's end and the bus arriving. During Monday's meeting, several parents …
Thursday, August 30, 2012
"I expect that the state will address the issues of unfunded mandates that affect communities like Medford in an adverse way." -Superintendent Roy Belson
The following was submitted by Medford Superintendent Roy Belson in response to comments on a previous article regarding Medford's busing program. For the record: Medford does not pay to transport students to either the Malden Charter School or to the Essex Agricultural School. Tuition payments are made through the Department of Revenue “Cherry Sheet” as a reduction in local aid. The morning start time has been changed by approximately 15 minutes so that we can pick-up students at ten different stops across the community, travel to Lexington/Minuteman, and return in time to transport elementary student to an in-city school. The multiple uses of this bus will save Medford taxpayers $60,000. this year. In some other cities students are …
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
The district is facing rising costs for transportation, according to officials.
In a cost-saving measure, Medford Public Schools will be using two fewer buses than last school year, according to Superintendent Roy Belson. As part of the consolidation, a bus previously dedicated to Medford students attending Minuteman Regional High School in Lexington was eliminated, Belson said. Instead, a bus will pick up Medford students attending Minuteman, drop them off in Lexington and return to Medford to run routes for Medford Public Schools, Belson said. After making a run of elementary school drop-offs in the afternoon, the bus will return to Lexington to pick up Minuteman students at 3:30 p.m., about an hour after the school day ends, except on Wednesdays when it will arrive in Lexington at 2:30 p.m., Belson said. Belson had…
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
The deal will save the city about $80,000 per year, Belson said.
Progess has been made and a deal is expected to be reached to end controversy over Medford Public Schools eliminating funding for a school bus to transport students to Minuteman Regional Vocational School. Superintendent Roy Belson didn't go into specifics when asked about the situation by City Councilors Tuesday because, he said, he didn't intend to announce anything official for another few days. But he said he expected an agreement to be reached that will resolve the issue and save Medford schools in the neighborhood of $80,000 per year. The Medford 2013 school budget, passed in June, includes cutting funding for the bus that transports Mintueman students who reside in Medford to its campus in Lextington, and replacing it with MBTA …
Jessica
1:26 pm on Friday, September 28, 2012
I don't think the way the Minuteman families were notified of this bussing problem was done correctly but I do want to thank Mr. Belson for standing up for the children of the Medford public schools. It is a concern of what will happen next year if Minuteman raises its tuitions again. I sincerely hope that the Minuteman families will take the same amount of energy used regarding this issue and go… more ›