Princeton Superintendent Explains Early Dismissal Busing Delay

Princeton Public Schools Superintendent Steve Cochrane posted the following message on the district's website on Tuesday night:

The good news is that all of our students arrived home safely following today's early dismissal.  I want to thank the parents who were there to greet them, the drivers who got them there safely, and the many staff members who waited with them at each school. 

The bad news is that some of our students didn’t get home until close to 4:00 p.m.  I regret the anxiety and inconvenience the long wait caused for many families.  The district was hampered by a number of factors. 1) The snow started falling a few hours earlier than was predicted. 2) Every school and district in the area called an early dismissal. Consequently, some contracted buses were still finishing up routes in one district or with independent schools before coming to ours. 3) Many of the major businesses in the area also closed early, causing significant congestion on the roads and slowing our ability to get students home sooner. 

Please understand that our district provides transportation to students attending 45 schools. In addition to our six schools, we transport students to charter schools, independent schools and schools for students with special needs. Coordinating all of those routes with changing schedules and changing weather conditions is not easy. While there were unavoidable delays today, I am incredibly proud of the work of our transportation department and of our building principals, who stayed in their schools until each child was picked up. 

Looking to the future, we will try to make sure that parents are called when we know specific buses will be significantly late.  We will also try to continue to give advance notice to help parents prepare for the possibility of an early dismissal. 

I was told today that this was the first early dismissal in seven years.  With any luck, it will be another seven years or more before we face one again! 

I am grateful to everyone for their patience and understanding during a difficult day. 

Sincerely,

Steve Cochrane