Mineola Schools Propose Bus Loop at Jackson Avenue

In the interests of student safety and traffic concerns surrounding the , Mineola Superintendent Dr. Michael Nagler presented a long-awaited proposal for constructing a bus loop at the building to the .

The current bussing situation at the school consists of eight large busses and one small at dismissal each day with three to four lined up on Marcellus Avenue and three to four parked in front of the school on the south side of Jackson Avenue so that their doors open to the sidewalk, thereby forcing the students to cross the street.

“We do not close that street so there’s all of the parent traffic is also on Jackson Avenue and it is not ideal by any means,” Dr. Nagler said during the meeting at the on March 15.

According to the district’s director of transportation, there is a 90 percent attendance rate on the bus. Approximately 280 students ride the bus this year. With next year’s phase of the about 400 students will be at the school in 2012-13. The reason for constructing the bus loop is not connected to .

“That doesn’t mean that there are not 100 parents in their cars also picking up students,” Dr. Nagler said. The bussing radius for the school is a half-mile.

The superintendent proposed creating a parallel street to Saville Road inside the property line with the busses entering the property through a curb cut just south of the Athletic center parking lot. The busses would travel south and park behind the school building, queuing up before exiting through a path onto Jackson Avenue. Walkers would stage in the gym for dismissal while riders would gather in the cafeteria.

“So the busses would never have a reason to go down Saville,” Dr. Nagler said. “The idea is to get traffic as fast as we can off of Saville and move it away from Chaminade and all of their busses.”

One of the hazards of the intersection of Saville Road and Jackson Avenue is that Jackson Avenue splits into two one-way directions, headed west in front of Chaminade and east in front of Jackson Avenue.

The superintendent reported that district bus drivers “like this idea; they like the idea of not being anywhere near other busses. As soon as you get on our property they’re out and going east and they can go east for four or five blocks before they have to turn north or south.”

The parallel road would consist of two lanes – one for parents in cars who would come down near the cafeteria and exit back onto Saville – and the other for busses. The superintendent said that two lanes are needed in case a bus breaks down and blocks one lane. Despite the school being built slightly on a hill, there would be no need for a retaining wall in the exiting portion of the loop.

“There’s not going to be this eyesore that you’re creating a tunnel through the hill to get out,” Nagler said.

Artie Barnett presented his own suggestion of bringing a multi-laned loop over from Marcellus with the exit at about the corner of Marcellus and Jackson. “This way the buses can go either way on Marcellus north or south, we’re keeping all of the parking and basically keeping all of the cars on Jackson,” he said.

Resident Linda Ramos warned the board that if it were to proceed with option two for the dismissal times, “at 2:49 p.m. (Saville) is backed up to and onto Jericho Turnpike,” saying that she has remained on Jericho for up to 8 minutes waiting to make the turn south. “You might potentially have your busses stuck on Jericho Turnpike at that time of the day.”

A suggestion was raised about having the two lanes parallel to Saville constructed with each bus coming straight down with students being brought out by the cafeteria. Another point was made by an audience member that since buses tend to arrive in the same order, that children could be dismissed when their bus arrives, the next bus could be brought down and the process could be repeated and parents could be allowed to use Marcellus for pickup.

The project does include additional pieces which can be bid as alternatives which can be done if the district receives a favorable price for the base bid of the entrance on Saville and egress onto Jackson. Repair and maintenance must be done at the school which includes fencing across the backfield ($14,250), sidewalk and bluestone repair ($21,942) as well as correction of a number of angled fences and replacement of the playground rubber which has become dislodged. An entirely new playground surface different than the material currently being used would reportedly cost  $123,423.

“It kind of blew my mind that number,” Dr. Nagler said.

The district could also pave a new basketball court onto the open field space it has at a cost of $21,576.30. Children would exit through a pair of roll-gates across the parking lot and onto the field area. Students currently play ball in he back of the building with a roll-gate fence across the parking lot to prevent vehicular traffic.

Another alternate would be to enclose the parking spaces on Saville Road, moving them into the property line at a cost of $108,491.

“There will not be access to because I know that’s a problem in some cases if you don’t get there fast enough,” Dr. Nagler said, noting that he had not informed the village as of the March 15 meeting, only wanting to do so after receiving a clear direction from the board. “The village needs to be involved in these discussions.”

The Saville Road spaces would be enclosed with the construction of a new sidewalk, which is where the village would become involved. The new spots would most likely be used for staff members.

The total amount of the project with all the alternates included would be $571,558.66. Dr. Nagler asked the board to consider limiting construction to just the bus loop base bid of the Saville entrance and exit onto Jackson, which would cost $281,875.50. He noted that moving the Saville Road parking spaces inside the property line could be done at a later date.

In order to pay for the project the district would transfer money from the undesignated fund balance into capital lines “so it’s separate than the budget,” Dr. Nagler said.