The beginning of the school year in the Bradford Area School
District was relatively uneventful on Monday as students headed
back to class.

“An uneventful day is a very good thing for us,” said
Superintendent Sandra Romanowski. “Nothing was out of the ordinary
and everything seemed to work out pretty well.”

The start of the school year introduced completely revamped bus
routes and the implementation of a ninth grade academy at Bradford
Area High School.

The completely re-done bus routes had been in the works since
early February. The new plan, which was started from scratch, was
put forth to remedy the various cyclical problems that have plagued
the school district.

“Busy day in the bus garage, but we got everybody home,” said
Barry Bryan, transportation director. “Just like any first day
there were some minor issues … a few students fell asleep on the
bus and some got on the wrong bus, which made the runs longer, but
nothing out of the ordinary.”

Bryan said the new routing was processed by a software program
that placed each student on a detailed map which allowed stops and
routes to be calculated to better serve all students who take
advantage of the bus system.

“To better prepare, this summer we actually did two dry runs of
the new routes,” said Bryan. “Even with that you’re never quite 100
percent. We deal with a lot of pre-K and kindergarten students … so
the runs generally are generally longer, until they get the hang of
it.”

The new edition of the ninth grade academy also made its debut,
offering a home hallway for all freshmen entering the high school.
To become better acclimated, both the sixth and ninth grade
students had to be at the school by 7:50 a.m., allowing them to
straighten out the location of the lockers and classrooms, said
Romanowski.

“I was up there in the wing this morning and again it seemed to
work out pretty well,” said Romanowski. “The move will help the
kids, allowing them to have a team of teachers dealing with them
every day.

“It will be easier to account for them when they are all in one
area and it is easier for the teachers and staff to better judge
personal issues with the students and possibly intervene before it
gets too bad,” Romanowski said. “We have a good bunch of teachers
that work very hard and believe that this move will make a
difference. This way it is easier for teachers to build
relationships while better getting to know each student
academically to better suit their interests.”

With the mission of the school district being to work together
to provide a learning environment in which all students will be
successful, Romanowski said that she has great hopes for the
program.

The move was part of a state-sponsored school development
program implemented by the district and involved the move of
several offices and classrooms to one hall at the high school to
alleviate the stress of a new environment for incoming
freshmen.