As you have probably heard, school districts across the state are facing severe bus driver shortages. Like our neighboring districts, BH-BL could be the next in line to temporarily cancel a bus route due to bus driver shortages. The Transportation Department is currently operating with just enough bus drivers and monitors to complete the district’s daily routes. Because of this, the possibility of cancelling a bus route or two for a day is likely.
If the district does cancel a route, students may be dropped off and picked up from school at the regular time. We encourage parents/guardians to consider making contingency arrangements to transport their children to school should their child’s bus route be cancelled. If parents/guardians are unable to make these arrangements for the morning, the district will make every attempt to secure a later bus run for the cancelled route. In this circumstance, the cancelled elementary school bus run will run on a one-hour delay while middle school/high school will run on a two-hour delay. (Other drivers will finish their regular routes then run the cancelled routes.) Parents of children on impacted bus routes may be required to pick up their children from school in the afternoon, even if morning transportation via the late bus was able to be provided.
Please know, the district will make every effort to spread bus cancellations among all routes, meaning no one bus route will be cancelled for an extended period of time if at all possible.
If bus routes need to be cancelled, parents/guardians will be notified by email and text through SchoolMessenger, and the notice will also be posted on the district’s website. Much like snow days, the Transportation Department may not know that a route needs to be cancelled until very early in the morning. We ask that parents check their text messages and/or emails that the district has on file prior to sending children to the bus stop. Parents/guardians will also be notified via SchoolMessenger by 6 a.m. if a late bus run for specific bus routes is available.
Staff and faculty have also been informed of the potential bus route cancellations resulting in some students arriving later to school on those days. High school and middle school, students should check in with the teachers of the classes they missed to get classroom and assignment information. Elementary school children’s classroom teachers will get them caught up when they arrive. Questions regarding instruction should be directed to your child’s school principal.
We are hopeful that this is a temporary situation and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our families. We will do our best to minimize the impact this temporary disruption could have on any one bus route at a time.
On a side note, If you know anyone who is interested in becoming a school bus driver, please contact Transportation Supervisor Joe Czub at jczub@bhbl.org.