ROANOKE, Va. – Roanoke City Public Schools leaders are hoping they’ve solved bus issues once and for all. This year, they’re implementing the staggered bell schedule.
Starting in a little over a week, kids will be back on the bus. Schools hope this new system will keep routes running smoothly this year.
Earlier this year, Chief Operations Officer Chris Perkins said bus routes had led to widespread tardiness.
“There’s a thousand kids that are late every day in our district of those thousand 500 are over 10 minutes,” Perkins said. “We owe it to each and every one of them, just like the other 13,000 kids that they get to school on time.”
This past summer, the school board approved a staggered bell system for each school. Different ones start anywhere from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. and then drop off between 2:15 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
“A long-term solution for a problem that we’ve dealt with for years, with whoever’s operating it,” Perkins said.
Durham School Services handles buses for Roanoke City Public Schools.
At this week’s school board meeting, school officials said double routes are no longer needed.
This year, they have 120 bus drivers to run a reduced 95 routes. Last year at this time they had 123 drivers and 148 routes.
Staff said that they anticipate some difficulties during these first weeks of school, but they expect to see long-term improvement when the routine sets in.
For more information on bus routes, click here.
For more information on bell schedules, click here.