BY ROD HANSEN

The new dismissal policy at Mountain View Middle School has succeeded in easing after-school traffic flow for buses, the principal has said.

However, several students have expressed displeasure over the new staggered approach to releasing students.

“People don’t like it,” said eighth-grader Mal Shea, referring to the new system in which students are released in three tiers to coincide with the arrival of their buses. “You used to look forward to the end of school, because all the seventh- and eighth-graders used to wait together.

Now they split us up,” he said.

Originally, students left the school building in two groups at 3:10 p.m. Students in fifth and sixth grades would wait for their buses at the playground at the south end of the school property, while seventh- and eighth-graders would wait for buses at their separate playgrounds.

The 34 buses serving the school would arrive in no set order, first retrieving the seventh- and eighth-grade students and then picking up fifth- and sixth-graders, said Mountain View Middle School Principal Jim Hunt. Teachers would alert students as the incoming buses arrived.

In cases of inclement weather, seventh- and eighth-graders would wait in the school gymnasium, while fifth- and sixth-graders would wait in the Hilltop Cafe.

“The buses were coming in random order, and whenever they’d arrive, they’d stop. The number of students missing buses was pretty significant,” Hunt said.

The older procedure also made for a lengthy wait for some students, Hunt said.

“Our buses start arriving at 3:10, and the 34th bus would be picking up students as late as 3:40 or 3:50,” Hunt said.

This being Hunt’s first year as principal of the school, he said he considered his first few months a “period of discovery,” and held out on making any changes.

After discussing the issue with Assistant Principal Fred Deppe and Associate Principal Sandra Davis, as well as the School District’s transportation company, Hunt announced the new dismissal policy in the school newsletter on Feb. 1.

Under the new arrangement, students are separated into tiers according to the order in which their buses generally arrive, Hunt said.

The first tier consists of 303 students who exit the building via the north wing rear exit or hilltop corridor exit and depart the school at 3:18 p.m.

Following them is the second tier of 305 students, who exit the building via the gym corridor rear door and board their buses at 3:18 p.m., departing seven minutes later.

Finally, the third tier of 301 students wait at the fifth- and sixth-grade playground and board their buses between 3:25 and 3:40 p.m.

Under the new system, all but three buses are now on their routes by 3:35 p.m., Hunt said.

Staff members have reported a marked decrease in missed buses since the change took effect, he said.

He acknowledged that students and parents may take a while in accepting the new procedure.

“The challenge is to get people accustomed to it, because it is different. We’ve had parents say they’re thrilled. Some seventh- and eighth-graders have said they don’t like it because they went through the first two years waiting to have their own area, and now they don’t get that anymore,” Hunt said.

Doug MacIntosh, an eighth-grader in the third tier of releases, said that was his very complaint against the new arrangement.

“I don’t like it, because now I’m in a tier with a lot of fifth- and sixth-graders, and that’s really not what I was expecting,” said MacIntosh.

Hunt acknowledges the system may need some adjustment, though he applauded the students and staff on how they’ve responded.

“This is a work in progress, but I can say we’re happy with the way it’s working,” Hunt said.