LoudounNow LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
[ Vol. 3, No. 48 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
[ October 18, 2018 ]
30 Iconic hospital rummage sale turns 80
County Pushes Ahead with Drug Court BY RENSS GREENE
Douglas Graham/Loudoun Now
Students wait to board a bus in Lovettsville. While some changes to the county’s bus service have been painful, school leaders say they’re paying off.
Overhauling Loudoun’s School Bus Service May Mean More Money in the Classroom
T
BY DANIELLE NADLER
hree years ago, Loudoun’s school leaders set out to improve how they get the county’s then-52,000 bus riders to and from school. Their goal was to spend less money on transportation, but to also revamp the department’s staffing, pay, communication and bus routes to ultimately improving students’ experience. Their plan has hit more than a few bumps along the way, with some families upset that students who once rode the bus are now asked to walk. But school administrators told the School Board last week that, overall, the changes are paying off. Kevin Lewis, assistant superintendent of Support Services, told board members that the school system has saved millions in the past four years by redrawing bus routes, requiring more students to walk, and finding other efficiencies. He pointed to the route-to-bus ratio—the relationship between the number of routes
and the number of buses in the fleet—as an indication of improvements made. In 2015, the division’s route-to-bus ratio was one route for every 1.30 buses. This year, that’s improved to one route for every 1.19 buses. The goal is, by next year, to get that ratio down to one route for every 1.15 buses—the industry standard. A route is the driving assignment for one driver with a complete schedule. Lewis said that may include roundtrip runs to elementary, middle or high schools, as well as any special runs assigned to the driver. Already, reining in how many buses the division uses has saved $19.6 million in the past year. He expects another $18 million will be saved if his team can reach that one route per every 1.15 buses by next year. “We’re happy to report that we’re already making inroads to these goals,” Lewis said. While the school system has added 3,484 more students—and now has a total of 56,545 students eligible to ride the bus—since 2015, it has actually been able
to reduce the number of buses in that time, from a fleet of 815 to 809 mostly because of improved routing. “We’re using fewer buses to move more students,” Lewis said. The overhaul to the Transportation Department has been years in the making. In the fall of 2015, after new members to the School Board noticed just how much the school system was spending to transport students to and from school, they got serious about making improvements. At the time, several board members argued that finding savings in the Transportation Department—which provides a service that is not mandated by the state—would free up more money for the classroom. “We’ve struggled with transportation funding since I’ve been on the board,” Jill Turgeon (Blue Ridge) said in 2016 as the board was looking for solutions for bussing concerns. “I’m not trying to diminish the transportation concerns, but we’re trying to make the best use of what SCHOOL BUS OVERHAUL >> 43
The sheriff ’s office, Loudoun County government and the courts are pushing ahead a program supervisors have said can keep people with drug problems out of prison, in treatment, and off the public dole. County leaders are working toward a mental health docket in the courts and a new drug court to give law breakers with substance abuse and mental health difficulties an option other than incarceration. In particular, county supervisors have welcomed promising news on plans for the new drug court—including a half-million dollar grant to help get it off the ground. The county’s last attempt at a drug court ran from 2004 to 2012, but was dismantled after supervisors decided they weren’t getting their money’s worth. In the drug court, some Loudoun drug offenders got a chance to avoid jail time after violating probation by going instead to an intensive outpatient treatment program. Offenders would be under intensive supervision and mandatory treatment, and if they fell off the wagon, they could wind up back in jail. But the program at that time could handle few participants. Supervisors and other county leaders discussed reestablishing a drug court in 2016, but those conversations were cut short when in 2017 the General Assembly stripped funding for a judgeship from Loudoun’s already-overtaxed Circuit Court. Drug court can be very time-intensive for judges. In May, however, the General Assembly voted to restore funding for every unfunded judgeship in the state. Supervisors had already directed the creation of a drug court advisory committee in February. Last week, that committee made its report to the board’s finance committee, outlining what it would take to get a new drug court rolling in Loudoun, with plans to start in 2019. DRUG COURT >> 43
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