LONGMEADOW — The Longmeadow School Committee voted to increase busing fees by $25 per rider.

Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Thomas Mazza said 260 students use the bus and while 165 pay a fee, 91 students ride for free. This is because state law requires school departments to provide a free bus to students in grades K-6 who live two miles or more from their school.

In the 2023-24 school year, buses are expected to cost the school department about $267,000. Mazza said the average revenue from bus fees is between $35,000 and $40,000 and does not cover the cost of even one of the four buses used by the schools. He said that the cost of buses is increasing by about $2,000 per bus per year due to raises in bus driver contracted salaries and gasoline.

Mazza suggested raising the fee from $235 per student to $260, with a cap of $520 per family. This will bring in an additional $4,000 per year.

Julie Morgan asked if the Finance Subcommittee was recommending 10% increases in consecutive years. School Committee member Jaime Hensch told her that, while the increase only applies to the 2023-24 school year, he said the School Committee must decide “where to spend [its] money.” He said that using the general fund instead of raising fees subsidizes the programs. He also recalled that the preschool program was recently put on a schedule of yearly increases because the fees charged in the current school year do not pay for the cost of the program.

Morgan then inquired what would happen if the increased fee decreased ridership. Mazza said there is a fund that can be tapped to handle such unexpected situations. There are also payment plans and subsidy forms for hardships.

Preschool program

The Longmeadow Public School preschool program is housed at Wolf Swamp Road School. Preschool Coordinator Catherine Beavis explained that the preschool program is for 3-5-year-olds. It uses a set of integrated language-based classrooms, each with 15 students — seven who are in individualized education plans and eight peer role models. There are currently 83 students, with 41 on individualized education plans, 12 of whom attend full day instruction.

The staff is a mixture of special education teachers, a speech and language pathologist, speech and language assistant, behavior analyst and paraeducators, some of whom work one-on-one with students.
The program uses a combination of curricula. Heggerty focuses on phonemic awareness and spoken language as it precedes reading. C.A.R.E.S., works on cooperation, assertiveness, responsibility, empathy and self-control. Lively Letters and Get Set For School are both multi-sensory programs. While Lively Letters works with phonetics and speech, Get Set For School has a focus on children’s developmental phases.

Beavis showed a video displaying how the curricula helps teach the vision of the graduate, a series of competencies intended for students to master: accountability, independence, problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration and communication. Children in the video worked collaboratively and independently to build structures from blocks and learn about numbers and letters. There were also parent testimonials in which people talked about the program’s individualized approach to teaching, the social skills their children had learned and how ready for kindergarten they were.

Verriden asked if the staff are trained to work with augmentative and alternative communication devices for children with severe speech and communication challenges. Beavis said the staff is “very well trained.”

Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea said pre-school personnel worked in-person throughout the pandemic, “while the world was on fire,” which, he said, speaks to their dedication.

Student Council

Four Members of the Longmeadow High School Student Council spoke to the School Committee about their experiences at a statewide conference that took place in Hyannis. Each of them talked about the confidence they gained and the invaluable experience of spending time with peers who had the same passion for student government.