Tuscaloosa City Schools transportation officials in Alabama are asking families for patience as new school bus drivers learn their routes and stop locations during the opening days of the school year, reported WBRC 6 News.
According to the news report, about 13 percent of the district’s 108 regular drivers are in their first year. The total does not include substitute drivers. Together, the drivers are expected to cover more than 130,000 miles across Tuscaloosa before the school year ends.
Transportation Director Tiny McCool said that the first day went well overall, although drivers encountered some problems as stops were added, and rookies became familiar with their routes. “As we’re adding stops, they weren’t quite aware of it yet,” McCool said via the article. “We have a tablet, but even with navigation you can still miss a road.”
No child was left behind on the first day, McCool added.
The transportation department reportedly prepared for opening day with an outreach effort it had not attempted in previous years. Staff members worked weekends and stayed late to contact every parent in the school system before classes began, McCool said.
“We called every parent in the school system to make sure their student knew the bus route, wanted a bus route, anything we could do, new addresses,” McCool told local news reporters.
Driver Phillip Farley said via the article that he felt confident in his routes after completing the second day of service. Farley, who has driven for three years, transports about 40 students daily and travels roughly 30 miles.
Farley said heavy first-day traffic created delays as more parents drove their children to school. Congestion near some campuses can put buses about 20 minutes behind schedule, he said.
“Of course, there are always things on the first day,” Farley said via the article. “When you’re going to some of the schools there’s a lot of traffic, and a lot of parents like to drive their kids on the first day.”
He advised students to arrive at their stops 10 minutes before the scheduled pickup time.
Written with the assistance of AI.
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