Dist. 220 buses running ahead of time

Barrington Area Unit School District 220 buses are completing their routes five to eight minutes faster this year, in part because they are making fewer stops.

District officials expect to find further efficiencies in the weeks ahead using new bus routing software.

Superintendent Brian Harris said at Tuesday night's board meeting that there are 19 percent fewer bus stops this year, a reduction of 469 stops, as part of a new policy that has led some children to walk farther.

All the walking could lead to more sleeping.

Linda Klobucher, the district's assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said students are being picked up a little later thanks to the efficiencies.

"Children should be seeing a difference in their time of pickup because it takes less time to run their routes," Klobucher said.

Being picked up five to eight minutes later might not sound like a lot, but Barrington High School junior Kara Ingram, the student council representative to the school board, told board members it makes a difference to her peers.

"Even if it's five minutes later they're happy because it's another five minutes of sleep," she said.

Carving out more sleep for students has been impetus for the board's more than yearlong discussion on pushing back the start time at schools.

Earlier this year, the board unveiled three start time options. In an effort to make those options more efficient, Klobucher's staff will run them through the new bus routing software. Klobucher will present the findings to the board Sept. 20.

"We don't want to put the board in a situation in which they have to open up a dialogue without having the information they need," she said.

The clock is ticking. The board has set a Nov. 1 deadline to decide whether to make any changes.