Considering that bus drivers have crap pay and only get two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon, can't afford to put food on the table and pay their bills... and you want to reduce the number of drivers and their hours? Why not make the company that you contract with, which the last I heard was Lakeview, pay their drivers more money, and pay their drivers for the hours that they have to sit at the terminal waiting for their next route... some of the drivers are NOT from the area, but drive 40 minutes to an hour to get to work each day to take your kids to school. They don't have health benefits and can barely afford to put fuel in their cars. Not to mention that they are at the bus terminal in the dead of winter scraping off their busses as early as 3 am just to be sure that these kids are picked up on time and are dropped off on time. Are they paid for the time that they spend clearing off their vehicles... most likely not. The school and parents just view school bus drivers as glorified "free" taxi and short term baby sitting service. Wouldn't need to add in the baby sitting service if people knew how to raise their children to behave themselves. Many of these buses are not heated, or if they are, they are not heated well, and in the summer, there is no air unless it's a special needs bus. Seriously, consider the people who are trying to make a living on $48 a day. Hell, not even that once you count tax, so that's about $44 dollars a day... Shall I go on?

If you need a reason as to why something like this would bother me, as some one who has no children, a friend of mine is a bus driver, who was dislocated from First Student when district 205 decided to go with Lakeview, not to mention a great many other school districts. First Student was crap, but from what I hear, so is Lakeview. Lakeview is worse than First Student, but that is just from an observational standpoint. Should I point out that some of these drivers are trying to put kids through college, take classes themselves, or have children with special needs that need good medical coverage or they need medical coverage themselves. Maybe school districts should be less concerned with how much their losing to fund their mediocre class rooms and fund those who are helping these kids go get to and from school and also pay their teachers the amount they deserve. I'm not saying that the school district pays the school bus drivers, but should have regulations set forth to make sure that drivers are paid their fare share, what they deserve. If that is a terrible thing to ask, then I'm sorry, but someone has to state the facts as they are and stand up for those who either cannot do it themselves or won't do it themselves because they are afraid of the consequences of what may happen to them if they speak their minds. We saw that when a union was brought into First Student, misinformation was a major one there, but still, it's a huge player in something like this.

As a parent, and a single working mother of two elementary school children,I would like to know if Rec Station is going to be able to handle the increasing numbers of families who are going to need before care? It is already difficult to get into now because of the number of students! and, will the time in which childcare will be offered remain same? I begin work at 7:30 a.m. and it is already a mad rush to get them to before care right at 7 a.m. and for me to make it to work on time.

Why not start the elementary kids earlier and the high school kids later??? I can think of a thousand reasons that would be better.

We just changed the hours this year to extend the day. I thought the intent was to provide more classroom time as a positive change for our kids. What's wrong with Dist 205? How will this benefit our kids, parents or teachers? We pay taxes for decreased services? If this happens Mr. Pruneau better start looking for a new job.

The High School kids already get up at 6:30 to catch at 6:56 bus this is totally crazy

I never understood why it is the obligation of the taxpayers to pay for the transportation of kids to schools. Parents of private schools have no problem getting their children to school on time. The children of Chicago's public schools don't have bus service and manage fine. Many take public transportation to and from school. Why not have children who need transportation buy a discount pass to use PACE as an alternative to hiring costly private bus companies.

The other alternative would be for the parents using the bus system to pay their fair share of the costs rather than having the taxpayers pick up the whole tab.

Maybe if people weren't given so many "free" handouts in life they would think twice about the decisions they make.

Just a clarification to those who do not have middle schoolers. Middle schoolers start at 8:20 unless they are in band, orchestra, or choir then those children take an early bus to get there before 7:25. This is crazy since we all just adjusted our schedules this year, also starting and ending later will interfere with scheduled after school activities so when are the children going to do homework. If I worked full-time, I would be in Mr. Pruneau's office right now! Parents do not get railroaded again, let your voice be heard!!

I prefer a later elementary start time. The change this year to an earlier start has been awful for me. It would be better if the kids came home a little later in the afternoon.

I am not trying to be bias but my kids will NEVER get a bus to any school in District 205 for their whole school career so busing does not affect me at all. So why not have parents pay a few bucks toward the bus?? Not sure if this is legal but it would help cut some costs. Why should everyone have to pay for the changes, that only may affect a few.

Not all kids take a bus to school. Buses come to my street because of the Metra tracks. There's no crossing guard posted at the tracks and the kids would be late to school if they walked and the trains ground to a halt, as the trains frequently do. Parents do walk with the kids when weather permits. Our school is not designed for the extra drop off and pick up traffic that would occur if the buses went away.

Kids and their education should come first. Busing should come second. I understand the district wants to save money but at the cost of the kids education. If my child does not start elementary school until 8:50am and the length of the day is not affected then won't my child have less instruction time? What elementary kids are bussed? At my child's school I thought everyone walks or gets a ride from parents.

This completely disenfranchises all families who have 2 working parents... what employer is going to say, "sure, you can come in at 10 a.m.!" given the fact that most commutes in the Chicago metro region are 45 min. - hour. And no, I highly doubt Rec Station will be able to accomodate the large influx of kids of working parents... this is a ridiculous solution to save $300k from a $104m annual budget [btw, it would be helpful for parents to be more educated on what the range of options and constraints were facing the budget if District 205 would update the Budget information on its website past 2010... just a thought.]

I get it because I am a working parent, but we all have to remember it is not about us and our work schedules. It is about what is best for kids and their education. We should be focusing on the start and end times that benefit them and the length of the school day and the amount of instructional time they receive. What percentage of kids are bussed? Maybe there should be a transportation fee and the start/end times are left alone.

I say we flood Pruneau's office with emails objecting to this plan. This is nuts...he can go back to MI where they found him...I plan on spreading the news to every parent I know in Elmhurst. He can get ready for the flood of negative communications from Elmhurst parents. My son goes to Jefferson and we don't even have bus service....so we walk or drive our kids to school. Rec station cannot take all these kids and companies are not going to be too happy at parents coming into work at 930am after dropping off their kids. I love how he said the decision would come in March and parents have time to adjust. What a glib comment to working parents who pay this man's bloated salary. Get ready Mr. Pruneau, you are going to hear about it from parents who are not going to let you cheat our elementary kids 45 minutes of learning and jeopardizing our jobs. Creep!!!

So far as I can tell from reading the article, classroom time will not be changed - the school day would be shifted, not shortened, ("The shift won't change the length of the school day") so those objections are unfounded. This isn't about changing the amount of time kids spend in school.

It is the case that the school budget is tough to manage. Nobody wants higher taxes, but nobody wants to accept cuts in school programming, education opportunities, or anything else. Exploring ways to save money while not cutting programs is the responsible thing to do. Already, parents with kids in school need to figure out before and after school care. Ceratinly, moving the start time later will cause more of us to need before school care, but it will also reduce the amount of time we need after-school care. Time-wise, there would be no change in the amount of child-care we need to find. It may be easier to only need three hours of after school care, rather than 45 minutes of before school care and 2:15 of after school care, and that's the kind of input we should give.

Somebody above suggested moving the high schoolers later, as opposed to the elementary schoolers. This might resolve a couple of problems. First, studies show the teenagers, in general, have a body clock that works better with a later start in the morning. And second, high schoolers can, by and large, take care of themselves for the additional 45 minutes in the morning before heading for the bus.

If you are upset by this, please put your money where your mouth is and contact 205. There is a "Coffee with the Superintendent" tomorrow night at Conrad Fischer at 7pm. Please come.

The crux of the matter was stated in the article - more federal & state mandates with no funding to implement them. The state tells the district which students need to be bussed and how many support teachers we must provide for ELL and special needs students. All of the mandates get issued with little to no funding to accompany them. So, the district is on the hook to obey the mandates and pay for them. Talk to your state legislature about this, they are the real culprits for this mess.

I have been participating in the Superintendents Community Advisory Committee, a series of bi-monthly meetings(began Oct.11 and ending Jan.24) designed by the district and staff to inform community volunteers on the ins and outs of their jobs. During last Thursdays meeting we were given 15 questions about directions the district could move in-for the good of education and to answer budget constraints. We were asked to rank them individually, then the results were discussed. The most surprising aspect of this exercise, to me,was the in-ability of this sampling of the community(50) to give up anything even though we cannot afford what we now have! No wonder congress can't cut spending. If we cannot do it here at the local level we are definitely doomed as a nation. For the most part the answer the district got from the 50 was - keep the status quo! That means every year more of the same. Let me give you one example of a question from the meeting; "Should the District continue to support a comprehensive high school?" The options were: (A)Yes, maintain a broad spectrum of course offerings, (B) Offer only classes that meet a minimum number of students required, and (C) No, reduce elective classes and focus on core curriculum. The overwhelming majority of responses were A-which I call the status quo. Only 4 said C, of which I am one. I say, let's get the basics right forget the fluff. There were no options offered for salary cuts for anyone at any level.

Carpool people!

Give up buses and let kids walk or be driven to school...that clears up a lot of $$ for the district. We don't have kids bused to our school and everyone seems to manage just fine. I am sorry, but having a bus service versus giving kids a broad spectrum of course offerings...which is more important to the overall education to our kids? I like to provide my child the upper hand in this world and not have to worry about paying for how they get to school...walk or drive them...end of story.

Incidentally, those families whose children attend private school are reimbursed by the state for the transportation expense they incur if they have to drive because they live more than a mile away from school or the route for their kids is too dangerous. Clearly the state believes it IS responsible for getting kids to school. We are all consuming our childrens future by spending money we don't have on stuff we really don't need.

Prunea's big solution is to do here what was done in Rochester, Michigan. WOW.

ALERT... this is not Michigan. We don't want to be Rochester. Pruneau before you start making changes you'd better ask the homeowners here what they want. How about listening once instead of just going off on tangents like this.

Ridiculous.....

If you eliminate three gym teachers you can save over $300,000.00....the kids can survive without wasting time playing floor hockey.

Kids and parents who appreciate PE would say the same thing about some other classes. PE might be the only class some kids enjoy. Guess what floor hockey gets your heart rate up and there are a bunch of kids who need exercise.

our childrens education is the most importqnt facet here. i do not believe the three tier bussing is the best solution to save $350,000. Has he thought about the overall additional cost parents will incur to make his plan work? how about if the pre and post school programs such as rec station , the Y, kindrrcare etc can accomodate increased numbers of children and additional hours of service? if school doea not start until 9 & you need to work later then the whole family gets home later which results in less time with your children. has Prunea thought about all these things? Our resident genius from MI does need to think long and hard about making these impactful changes in our lives.

Please help me out here. Which elementary schools have busing? Ours does not, which is another reason this plan would be onerous on us.

I also agree that it is long overdue to look at these administrators salaries. Cuts in service and class offerings would be more palatable if the administrators took cuts themselves.

I don't know why these elementary schools cannot just have parents drive their kids to school? We are at Jefferson, where buses are not an option and we all seem to manage driving or walking our kids to school. I get the dangerous intersections and railroad crossings....but then drive the kids. Why do you need buses? Is it a liability thing for the district? Is it really the district's responsibility to make sure your kids GET to school? Or is it that they have to offer a safe solution for kids to get to school...if so, hand that option back to the parents...make them drive those kids to school who live in those 'danger' crossing areas and then we don't need to be in this Tier system with the buses.

I am wondering how many of our elementary schools even bus as Lincoln and Jefferson do not. If there are only a few elementary schools that bus only some of the children, then it does not make sense for the 3-tier system. I ask because I don't know much about this new superintendent. After the debacle with the former superintendent, (purchase a building and THEN conduct Due Diligence and my favorite - her definition of getting a 2nd opinion was to ask the same question of the same attorney), I want to ensure that there are truly a large number of elementary students in Elmhurst that are bused. Otherwise, I see this as a huge imposition on everyone involved with the elementary schools for no valid reason.

I pay taxes and don't even get the advantage of using a bus..I start work at 7 am and use a college girl to help get my kids off to school in am..later start would not work.
We pay outrageous taxes yet Elmhurst is constantly on budget restraints negatively affecting our families. I don't get it

How is a crossing guard going to deal with a train? If we walk or drive, the bus comes anyway. It's a federal or state mandate.

There are too many kids in our elementary schools for parents to drop off. I don't know about Jefferson but Emerson drop off is a nightmare! More dangerous than a bunch of kids exiting a bus supervised at the building entrance. Parents don't follow drop off rules and kids are crossing the parking lot in every direction. I've seen several near misses. It is no safer. Not to mention the long lines waiting to get to the parking lot and making our kids tardy.

The bottom line here is this, it is a STATE LAW for the district to provide these buses to the students. The district MUST comply with STATE LAW.

Come on people! There were only 3 of us at Coffee with the Superintendent. We can't have him thinking this is a fringe issue, because it is not! Please write him and the school board.

How about cutting some District 205 administrative and all the consultants they hire salaries? How about parents consulting them for free about changes that will affect OUR children?

What about late starts, that means our kids won't start till 10:00! Why don't we just feed them lunch too while we just sit around waiting for school to start! If we feed them lunch at home, WoW, maybe we can save a whopping $50,000 so we don't have to pay the lunch room staff too! C'mon when will this end!

One of the reasons that elementary students live so far from their schools is due to the closing and repurposing of schools. Then came overcrowding and higher taxes to address that, now this. What's next. I don't hear about this going on in Villa Park, Bensenville or other nearby towns. If we need to cut back, how about at the administrative level. Someone complained about teacher salaries but check out some of the administrator salaries. Several are over $100,000 and does not include cost of benefits, also plenty of vacation and sick time. These are people who have little impact on our children's education so let the cutbacks start there.

Seriously? Not always about our needs? Of course it is..if we want to be good parents and provide for our children it is about our needs. I am a single mom and a professional and work at 7am. SOme of us don't have the luxury of making our own hours. I too would love to spend more time with my children in the morning and in fact even see them off to school. However, my job requires me to start early which is what I need to do to provide a good life for my children.

This plan is regressive. Why balance, in part, the school budget on the back of the people who can least afford it (those who require two incomes to maintain a home in Elmhurst). Look at the train schedule - if you work downtown, a 8:50 start time would mean that the next train avaiable would be 10:13 which would get you to the west side of the city at 11 AM...obviously not an option. This is a hidden tax on two income families because they will be forced to pay for additional child care to solve the district's problem. Also, most sporting practices tier their activities with the youngest children practicing the earliest. MANY elementary level sports start at 4 so that middle school kids can play at 5 or 6 and later for teens. Finally, I am bothered by the false dichotomy that is being expressed by Pruneau. All of a sudden we are seeing a "break out" of the cost of this unpopular idea versus the number of teachers and class sizes. Really? This small cost versus the overall budget is NEVER going to get us 6 additional teachers. Is this a "done deal" that he needed to couch it in these terms?

In my opinion, we must ensure two things 1) that this issue will not be voted upon until AFTER the April school board elections given the large number of board members not running for re-election, and 2) every school board member up for re-election must commit to voting against this proposal.

Thank you, KimK. I don't see how, as a working parent, I'm being called selfish for asking how the district can make decisions that greatly affect some parents more than others. I don't have a choice about my working hours. My job is not a 'hobby'. It is a job - I earn a living to provide housing, food, clothing, and hopefully, a good education and start in life for my kids. Instead of pitting parent against parent, should we all be asking, "why are they always telling us, "sorry, we have noooo choice except to cut, cut, cut!" It's BS I tell you - this is about funds being mismanaged, an elected Board who hasn't taken a class in public fund accounting, and lack of accountability. $300k, what they would save with this change, is .3% of the budget (less than 1%).

Kristen and John, I could not agree more with both of you. I think we can all aknowledge that as parents we have all done what is best for our individual families to provide for emotional and financial well being. For some that means having one working parent, part time or shift work or using rec station or ymca etc. What works for our family may not work for another so there is no point in saying one is better than the other, it only distracts from the real issue. If the district is willing to disrupt so many for such a small return, what is next?

What's next, you ask? Hold on to your hats and get ready to dig a little deeper when the expense liability from the latest lawsuit against D205 is awarded to the parasitic "I'm Entitled" support staff suing the District. The ongoing D205 saga makes you want to puke.

FIRE THEM ALL with extreme prejudice. Unfortunately, that would instigate another lawsuit.

http://elmhurst.patch.com/articles/settlement-talks-for-school-district-wage-lawsuit

it does seem like the teacher always want everything adn never want to take any cuts like we all had to do