ROANOKE, Va. – Roanoke City Public Schools students are kicking off their first week of school, and the new year is bringing new changes.
The school division sent a message to parents on Tuesday afternoon saying some buses were delayed as they were late to leave several elementary schools, which is affecting routes for middle and high schools.
John P. Fishwick Middle School Principal Ryan Loose said the middle school start time has been pushed to 9:30 a.m. to help with routes. Loose asks everyone to be patient with buses the first few days.
“The kindergarteners and pre-k, everybody wants to put them on the bus, so it’s going to slow us up a bit, but I know that Zum and Roanoke City schools are working very hard to make sure the buses are on time this year,” Loose said.
Outside of bus routes, superintendent Dr. Verletta White said there are some big changes happening this year. ID badges are something you could see in your child’s school this year.
“Any student who rides the school bus will have a student ID, and our high school students will also have student ID badges as well,” Dr. White said. “This way, we can make sure that we have the students in the school who should be in the school. We have students on the right bus.”
Statewide, a new cell phone policy was just passed banning students from using them in school, which has been the rule for a while at the middle school.
“It really helps when the kids put the phones away,” Loose said. “They’re not as distracted, and you know the results that we’ve had at our school has shown that that has helped us.”
School staff said they’re looking forward to another year full of lessons.
“It’s an exciting time of year, and we’re just pleased to have everybody come together,” Dr. White said.
School staff suggest parents download the Zum app to track a student’s specific bus.