SAUGUS — The Saugus High senior prom is just a little more than two months away, yet the students are unsure of the bus transportation to and from the venue, and the only price they’ve been given for it is more than double what they’d anticipated.

This is all because of an unexpected requirement that the bus company the students use carry sexual assault and molestation insurance, class president Jessica Bremberg told the School Committee this week. This requirement meant a change of carriers, and a steep increase from what last year’s class paid as a result, Bremberg said.

Bremberg told the committee that seniors take four coach buses from the school to the venue, and then back to the school after the event. 

She said that last year after the class booked the prom at the Black Swan Country Club in Georgetown, the class began budgeting based on what the previous class had paid — an estimated $4,000. Earlier in the school year, she said the class found a company that was within its budget, but the contract the class sent was not signed.

“We were then later informed that the bus company needed to have the sexual assault and molestation insurance, which you would think, ‘OK, maybe a lot of bus companies have it,’” Bremberg said. “No, we had to change our bus company and the recommended one for us to use was over double our budget.”

The cost for the suggested company, Local Motion, provided a quote of more than $2,000 per bus, Bremberg said, and a $750 fee for an on-site supervisor. 

Bremberg said that the boards at Saugus High work extremely hard to raise money for senior week, and that her goal is to make the class happy by creating events to bring it together in its last year. The class’s fundraising efforts, she said, are to make sure that any student who wants to be able to attend an expensive event like prom is able to do so.

She said that she has asked many people where the requirement came from and why the class is only learning about it now and said nobody has been able to answer her.

“Why did it take so late in the school year to be informed about this?” she asked the committee. “We began planning this back in September or October for buses, because you have to reserve them quickly or they will be booked.”

Bremberg said the town has told the class that the insurance is required, but apparently most bus companies do not have it.

Committee Vice Chair Tom Whittredge said he doesn’t understand why the unexpected cost for this should be pushed onto the students.

“What’s happened is the company that insures the town, that we have to go through, will not sign off on the insurance if it doesn’t have that clause in it,” Superintendent Michael Hashem said. “It went through the town and we were told that our insurance carrier requires this clause for coach buses.”

Vice President Madilyn Femino said the class also went on a trip to New York in the winter that would probably never happen again if future classes have to use the company, as it is too expensive.

Bremberg said situations such as this exemplify the sense of community that is important to keep Saugus students in the district, instead of attending private schools.

Members of the committee were surprised to hear about the requirement.

“I’ve never even heard of that before, it just kind of blows my mind to be honest with you,” Whittredge said. “Molestation insurance?”

He asked if there are chaperones on the bus, and Bremberg answered chaperones are always present and the vast majority of seniors will be 18 by the time of the prom on May 30.

Bremberg said Local Motion has since been booked and that the buses to the prom are currently not in place. She said it is a school rule that students can’t drive to school events, and that asking the parents to drive all the way to Georgetown is unreasonable.

“The safest thing is everybody on the bus,” Whittredge said.

Serino said the committee would figure out the difference in cost for the class. Femino said that if it is done for their grade, it needs to be done for the younger classes as well, especially the closer ones that have not been budgeting for this cost.

Serino said that the committee needs to figure out why the class is learning about this so late and if the expensive insurance is actually required.

Bremberg said that the contract needs to be signed as soon as possible, as the companies are being booked quickly.

“I think if they can get the quote and it meets the specifications, I think they should go with it,” Hashem said.

“Book it and we’ll figure out the rest,” Whittredge added. “We’re not going to let you guys down.”