Does your child ride a Beaufort County school bus? Here’s some stuff you need to know

The Beaufort County School District has a school bus driver for each of its routes this school year, an improvement from last when vacancies were common and resulted in double-routing.

Superintendent Jeff Moss delivered the good news to school board members at the Tuesday night meeting.

The number of returning drivers, along with more efficient routing and the number of summer hires, positioned the district to be at 100 percent driving capacity, said Gregory McCord, the district’s chief auxiliary services officer.

While the district ran 159 routes last spring, in the coming school year, that number will shrink to be between 140 and 150 routes, he said.

The first 20 days of the school year are an adjustment period, however, and some families may change their minds on transportation, so routes may be slightly altered.

The 2017-18 routes can be found at http://bit.ly/2wjuxxa. Bus routes are subject to change. The district recommends looking at your child’s route again before school starts.

McCord’s next goal is to secure enough substitute drivers, what transportation folks like to call a “bench.”

Not at any point during the 2016-17 school year were all bus driver positions filled, district spokesman Jim Foster said in late March. Beaufort County School District wasn’t alone in grappling with a bus driver shortage. It’s an issue affecting many school districts across the country.

One of the district’s more creative hiring strategies included parking a school bus near Beaufort’s K-Mart in June, McCord said. The big box retailer is closing in September and its summer liquidation sale provided an opportunity to get the word out to a lot of foot traffic and possibly displaced workers.

“But we’re not looking for just anyone with a license,” McCord said, noting the district’s rigorous vetting process.

In the 2016-17 school year, roughly 7,000 students took the bus to school in the morning and about 11,000 rode the bus home in the afternoon.

Last school year also marked the district’s first year directly managing its bus program instead of contracting services out as it had done for years.

This story was originally published August 2, 2017 at 6:33 AM with the headline "Does your child ride a Beaufort County school bus? Here’s some stuff you need to know."