D122 Agenda: Bus Schedules, Language Arts Program and More

Despite an outpouring of parent concerns and questions, the New Lenox School District 122 . And though it's unlikely that anything will change before next school year, the board is going to revisit the issue at its meeting tonight.

The district expects to save about $372,000 by minimizing the number of buses and drivers needed by staggering start times. This was part of a $2.5 million budget reduction plan approved by the Board of Education in February. The savings would come from cutting 19 buses and 16 drivers, a result of dropping off grades 4-6 first at 7:30 a.m. and making start times for kindergarten and junior high the same later in the morning.

Board Member Maureen Broderick, who originally voted against the changes, suggested addressing the issue again because of the feedback she received while campaigning for re-election.

District 122 Supt. Mike Sass said the schedules are worth talking about, but that it would be near impossible to reverse the board's decision before this coming school year.

"It would be extremely difficult," Sass said. "I can't imagine us changing it for August. We'd have to get the buses again, parents might have already gotten child care services lined up."

The school board meets at 7 p.m. tonight at the , 102 S. Cedar Road. To see what else is on the board's agenda, click on the PDF image to the right of this article.