DeKalb school officials announced a plan to address bus overcrowding, a week after drivers said they felt overwhelmed and often dealt with combative parents and students forced to stand the whole bus ride home.
Issues with the bus routes were prioritized to three categories: buses more than 16 students over capacity; buses between six and 15 students over capacity, and those with fewer than six students over capacity.
An analysis by district officials of bus routes found that 13 percent, or 196, of the 1,485 daily bus runs in DeKalb County are over capacity.
State law allows buses to carry up to 120 percent capacity, meaning a 64-passenger bus can run with 77 students on board. The DeKalb County School District follows the industry standard of three students per seat for grades K-5 and two students per seat for grades 6-12.
The district plans to lessen the load on buses by Oct. 23 by:
• Validating ridership through conversations with schools and drivers
• Reassigning students to new bus routes as needed
• Utilizing double runs, where drivers run the same route twice
A long-term strategy involves a thorough analysis of transportation management and operations to enhance the district’s service and purchasing additional buses, among other things.
Bus drivers suggested last week that district officials may be looking to fix something other than what drivers see as the problem. Cathy Douglas, president of the Bus Advisory Council, an advocacy group for school bus drivers, said she believed the district was missing more drivers than it believes and that most of the problem comes from drivers calling in to say they can't work their shift.
The DeKalb County School District transports about 60,000 students daily. As of Oct. 11, the transportation department consisted of 878 drivers with 822 working daily on 803 routes. The district utilizes 1,009 school buses with an average age of 10.1 years.
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