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Minutes of J Bus Reconfiguration Meeting, August 8th

Present:  Barbara Welch, Nixon Principal,
          Kathy Durkin, Transportation Manager and Risk Manager for the District,
          Mary Gill, Leslie Fiedler, Joan Marx.

A. Main Conclusion:  the J Bus schedule will be reconfigured to afford bus
   service to Gunn (A.M. and P.M.) for Stanford campus residents. Students
   will get on the bus at Nixon School to go to Gunn.  Nixon students from
   Stanford West will have a shorter ride.  New bus schedules will be
   published Friday, August 12 (after the committee review) and bus passes
   will go on sale at the same time.

B. Corollary Points.
   1. The J Bus will discharge Gunn students at Miranda West VTA stop or the
      Arastradero southside VTA stop.  (Kathy Durkin will judge which would
      benefit Gunn students' timing).
   2. Stanford West riders will have shorter rides and a later schedule than
      last year. (See C3 below.)
   3. The Nixon students will need supervision from 7:40-45. Teachers'
      contracts stipulate they must be available 15 minutes before the bell.
      Since Nixon starts at 8:00, there is a 5 minute period during which
      teachers cannot be required to supervise.  The Stanford Area Families
      Bus Group will coordinate the supervision, at the request of Barbara
      Welch.  The coordination will include finding 5 minute supervisors
      for each school day and the consequent logistics (a substitute slate,
      notification system when a substitute is needed, path from bus to play
      area, rainy day location).
   4. Kathy Durkin will draft the new schedule for the J and Z busses
      (see C2 below) and email the draft to meeting members for their review
      before the new bus schedule is published.

C. Unresolved Issues.
   1. Are volunteers for the school covered by the District's liability
      insurance while in the process of volunteeering.  If so, the pool
      of 5 min. supervisors can be extended from teachers' aides to parent
      volunteers.  Kathy Durkin will phone the liability administrator for
      the District's insuring company on Monday the 8th to verify that the
      volunteers would be covered and then notify meeting members.
   2. Coordination of the J and Z busses.
      The J transports students from the Stanford West and Stanford campus
      area, and the Z from the North Hills (Page Mill west of 280) and Stanford.
      a. Could the Gunn and Terman students from Stanford West, Stanford campus,
         North Hills (Z route) all be combined on the J route at the Nixon site
         and still allow 15-20 new Gunn students from the Stanford campus to ride
         on the J?  Kathy Durkin will check the numbers of last year's Gunn and
         Terman students on the J and Z to see if they total less than 36
         (largest bus holds 56).
      b. Alternately, could the Z and J busses transfer students at Nixon School,
         one bus serving Gunn and the second serving Terman.
      c. If the Z and J busses are coordinated at Nixon, either by combining or
         transferring student riders or simply by riding in parallel, the Z bus
         would quite likely gain more student riders.  Its route would be shorter
         because more direct, and its starting time would be later.
   3. Timing of the J bus.
      The District's present estimate of travel time from Stanford West to Nixon
      is 13 minutes. Timing was not discussed in further detail, but last year's
      schedule combined with a 7:40 arrival at Nixon suggests the following:
      7:20 Stockfarm and Sandhill, 7:25 Clark and Mosher, 7:27 Clark and Durand,
      7:40 Nixon, 7:48-50 Gunn (depends on stop), 7:55-58 Terman
      (depends on stop at Gunn).
   4. Afternoon routes of the J and Z bus.  The return from Gunn to Stanford was
      not discussed and has not as yet been determined.
   5. Financing of the J bus reconfiguration.
      a. The District will net approximately $6000 dollars from the new Gunn
         riders (ten families from Stanford have already expressed interest).
      b. If all 5 minute supervisors were school aides (definitely insured by
         the District), the cost for the school year would be $253.80-$327.60,
         depending on aides' salary base.  The Stanford Area Families Bus
         Group brought a financing proposal to the meeting ($200 paid by the
         District from new revenues from the pilot project, remainder paid by
         the Nixon PTA) which remains to be discussed.