Classes are starting in school districts around the state, and police are urging drivers to stay alert for buses that are loading or unloading children.
Bus drivers in the Lee County and Tupelo school districts spend time before school starts reviewing safety guidelines and practicing their routes, as reported by the Daily Journal's Emma Crawford Kent.
Student transportation call center operators are prepared to take calls from parents who are having issues with pickup and drop-offs. OPS says they do these dry runs every year to adjust the schedules for the first day. Parents can pick their childs school, but students only get transportation to schools in their "partner zone".
After buses never showed up for some students previous year, the district is hoping these changes will ensure every student arrives to class for the first bell on the first day.
"It's going to be a great day and a fabulous year", one driver said as she headed into work.
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OPS has contracted with North End Teleservices, which has an office near 24th and Hamilton Streets in north Omaha. The new number is 531-299-0140. "It's seamless to the parents that there are multiple call centers that are a part of the network", said Carmen Tapio, President and CEO North End Teleservices. It's a split shift and requires a lot of patience, all reasons school officials say this year is especially hard finding drivers.
For many students across our region, the school bus is their primary method of transportation to and from school.
Last year, there were 834 school bus related crashes in Kentucky, which included 3 deaths and 98 injuries.
Traci Shobe with OPS transportation said the drivers also had extra time to prepare.
We place an enormous amount of responsibility on our school leaders already by asking them to take our children each day and mold them into future leaders of our community, let alone the daunting task of making sure they get to school and back home safely every single day.
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