Bus Driver Shortage May Result in Later Bus Routes

Like many entities, quarantining by our County Health Department continues to affect both staff and students at Safford Schools.  Staffing our transportation department has been particularly challenging as we are currently using all of our substitute drivers to cover sick or quarantined drivers.

Last year we tried reducing routes when we didn’t have enough staff, but this placed a hardship on some households.  Since our goal is to make sure all students get to school, IF we face a driver shortage again this year, we will double up routes rather than reducing our route areas.  This means, basically, a driver would transport students to school on their regular route.  Once students were dropped off, the driver would then go pick up students from another route.  If this were to happen, we will communicate with parents of the route affected through our auto dialer system letting you know the bus pickup will be at a later time.  Ideally, we could let you know the day before, but there could be a situation where we may not know about a driver being out until that morning. 

Our auto dialer system relies on having updated parental contact information so the calls go to the best person to deal with this type of situation.  If you have signed up with our PowerSchool Parent Portal, you can check your contact information there.  If you have had changes to your contact information, it is very important to contact your school’s secretary so we can have the most up-to-date contact information for you.  This will allow us to contact you as bus routes are delayed.

We sincerely appreciate your support and understanding as we continue to navigate through these unprecedented times.