Presentation on transportation given at Board of Education meeting

Larry Lee Fiber, CEO of Fiber Fundamentals presented to the Board of Education on Tuesday evening about transportation planning for the 2025 - 2026 school year. Efficient school bus routing is a crucial component for ensuring student safety and achieving budget savings. 

“New York state spends more educating its students than any other state, and guess what? They also spend more than any other state in transporting their students,” Mr. Fiber told the Board of Education this week. “Which is something that I’ve strived to improve in the districts that I’ve served, and it’s what I aim to do here serving you.” 

The presentation started off with an overview of Mount Vernon and the neighboring communities before diving into the analytics from the 2024 -2025 school year regarding transportation. 

Mr. Fiber noted that general education students largely rely on public transportation or other means, such as walking, to get to school. Specifically, students with individualized education plans (IEP) sometimes designate special transportation needs within their plan, which is provided by the District. 

During the last school year, he found that over 600 special-education students were dispersed throughout the district because their programs were not strategically aligned closely with where they live. Therefore, it took 78 buses to get them to and from school. This is roughly fewer than six students per bus.

Taking a close look at the bus routes from last school year, five elementary trips overlapped from Benjamin Turner Academy and Denzel Washington School of the Arts, since students from all over the District attend those schools. 

As a result of the closing of three elementary schools, re-routings were put into place to allow the District the opportunity to reposition special-education programs closer to students’ homes. 

Additionally, implementing group stops, as opposed to door-to-door stops, will lead to less route overlap, safer routing plans, greater efficiencies, greener solutions and shorter ride times. 

The presentation concluded with a chart explaining potential savings through efficient routing. Mr. Fiber answered questions from school trustees while school Superintendent Dr. Demario Strickland emphasized the importance of families updating addresses to guarantee transportation for the upcoming school year. To change or update your address, click here.