JCPS union leader expects district to address bus route issues during fall break
Tuesday marked the second full day of the new school year for Jefferson County Public Schools, two weeks after a busing meltdown.
While the district is still experiencing some problems, there has been progress, and more improvements could be on the way.
The district, so far, has avoided a repeat of the first day fiasco when the last student was dropped off just before 10 o'clock. On Monday night, the last student was dropped off at 7:48 p.m.
On Tuesday, all bus riders were dropped off at 7:13 p.m., according to JCPS officials.
Bus drivers say the morning routes are not the problem, they맥스카지노re struggling to get students home in the afternoon.
맥스카지노If they can get the afternoon routes right or closer to the compounds that the driver's drive out of, instead of sending them all the way across town, that would help with this,맥스카지노 said John Stovall, president of Teamsters Local 783.
Stovall says keeping drivers' routes in the vicinity of their bus compound is one solution to the problem. He expects that to be addressed when the AlphaRoute system, which optimizes JCPS bus routes, is revamped during the fall break, which is the first week of October.
The modification, Stovall hopes will provide more feasible routes, which trickles down to students getting to and from school on time and fewer worried parents.
맥스카지노It'll be little changes here and there up until then, but I think once they get to the fall break, they'll have a whole week to go back and reroute, I think it'll make it better,맥스카지노 he said.
Beyond the dangerous heat adding to the mix this week, Stovall says it appears the restart of the school year is on the upside.
맥스카지노Afternoon's the worse time and this week it'll be close to 100 every day and you're sitting on a bus and most of them don't have air conditioning,맥스카지노 he said.
JCPS officials say amid the excessive heat, schools and bus depts. have been provided extra water.
Imminent changes to the district's transportation plan are forthcoming, and the union leader says drivers are looking forward to it, but admits they have their reservations. Until those changes are made, Stovall asks for patience with the drivers, saying they맥스카지노re doing the best that they can.
맥스카지노I'm sure they're hoping and wanting to believe it's going to get fixed, but I wouldn't say they're optimistic right now just because it was such a crash course in the beginning and it was so bad,맥스카지노 Stovall said.