School Buses Show Improvement on Day Two

Fawn Hollow and Stepney elementary school students taking the bus arrived late for their first day of school Monday and some did not get home until 5 p.m., according to one parent's account. But Supt. of Schools Colleen Palmer said adjustments were made and buses got children home by 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

"Today we were very pleased," Palmer said. "But we did have a rough start."

There are three tiers of bussing, in which buses go out three times in a row, the superintendent explained.

"If there is any delay at all with any of the tiers, it affects the third tier the most," Palmer said. "Stepney and Fawn Hollow are the third tier."

Another complication, according to Palmer, was that many elementary students were riding on a school bus for the very first time, and school staff has to board them before drivers can take them home.

She said adjustments were made on Tuesday, adding administrators will monitor the situation and make any other adjustments as needed.

"Every day, the routes will become more familiar to our students and our drivers," Palmer said.

Another improvement was to the communication with parents.

Palmer said the new CODE Ed, a system that contacts parents via e-mail and cell phone texts in the event of an emergency, was used at the end of the day Tuesday to let parents of Fawn Hollow and Stepney students know "all's well and they're on their way home."

"The first day we did create stress on the part of our Fawn Hollow and Stepney parents," Palmer said. "We will use CODE Ed moving forward if there is ever any problem."