HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — UPDATE: Chunda English said Friday that after the serious school bus delays on Wednesday and Thursday, the first two days of the school year, her middle school daughter, and her elementary school sons, will no longer be riding school buses.
"Our neighborhood has pretty much given up on the bus and have formed rotating car pools to make sure our kids get to school," she said. Her husband and her mother are also pitching in to drive the kids to and from school. "Maybe in a few weeks we'll try again," she said, but as it is, "my daughter was very happy to be home before 5pm today."
Original Story, Thursday, August 5, 2021:
The annual school bus blues, with delays and mixed-up routes as students return to class and drivers settle in, are magnified this year across many school districts that are also, now, dealing with driver shortages and COVID absences.
Parents in Henry County say they expected that their children’s school bus service would have some glitches and delays at the beginning of this school year, as happens in most school districts every year.
But not like this.
When 11Alive spoke with Chunda English at her home in Henry County, it was after 6 p.m. on Thursday, the second day of the new school year.
Where was her 12-year-old daughter?
“She’s on a bus right now,”
English said her daughter’s serious school bus delays, two days in a row, is a problem many parents and children across Henry County are experiencing, unexpectedly, they say.
“We’re very frustrated, at this point,” English said, whose daughter attends Dutchtown Middle School. “You’re expecting your child to arrive home on time, and you’re waiting hours. Not minutes. But hours, literally."
Wednesday, the first day of school, she said her daughter arrived home at 7:30 p.m., more than three hours after school let out.
Thursday she said her daughter got home two and a half hours after school let out.
And both mornings, English said her daughter’s bus never arrived to take her to school on time, her father had to leave work to take her to school so she wouldn’t be late.
Henry County schools sent a message to parents apologizing, explaining there are shortages in staffing, and unexpected quarantines for several active bus drivers, and, “at least through the first couple of weeks, you can still expect some delays.”
“It should not take weeks to rectify this situation,” English said. “Waiting for my child to get home two and a half hours past the original scheduled time is unacceptable and should not take weeks to fix.”
A school spokesperson told 11Alive that 60 percent of the students use the buses. He said the school bus system is designed to take elementary school children to and from their schools, first, each day; then the buses take high school students; after that, the buses take middle school students. He said that beginning-of-the-school-year delays often occur among drivers and elementary school children and their routes, and then that pushes back the high school bus schedules, which pushes back the middle school bus schedules.
Add to that the shortages of drivers that Henry County and many other school systems are trying to resolve, plus COVID quarantines, make the start of this school year’s bus service especially difficult to perfect.
The school system is asking parents for patience.
Chunda English is arranging for other transportation for her daughter, now.
Letter to parents from the Henry County School System:
Parents and Guardians,
We wanted to send a message to you on the 1 st Day of School to provide you with a few updates.
First, we know there was a lot of excitement on campuses and students were eager to get back into the school routine. Their energy was felt all across the county. Along with that, there were many other successes that resulted on this day, and we look forward to many more in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
But we also want to apologize for the disruptions today that resulted in delayed transportation. It is unfortunate that our bus system didn't run as efficiently as we had planned for today. Managed shortages in staffing coupled with unexpected assignment of quarantine for several active bus drivers resulted in substantially unusual delays in picking students up this morning and delivering them home this evening.
We are working non-stop to address the causes of delays as quickly and as completely as we can but know that at least through the first couple of weeks, you can still expect some delays if your child is using HCS Transportation. Each year we expect some delays due to the sheer volume of traffic that returns to the congested roads in our county, but the routes eventually smooth out when routines return. But the staffing gaps and the reality of COVID-19/quarantining impacts are further complicating the matter.
We humbly ask for your continued patience as we work through this matter to provide your family with the safe and reliable transportation you expect. If you need more information on our transportation operations for this year, visit the district homepage.
We are looking forward to a better tomorrow, but please let us know if there is anything we can assist with.