As the school year continues, the car rider lines have not gotten any better. JCPS has always had issues with bus drivers and delays. Beginning in February 2023, Marty Polio, JCPS superintendent, decided to change school start times. As we all know, the start times delayed the 2023 school year by over a week as they figured out a better plan for students who ride buses to get home at an earlier time. Polio stated that bus drivers would have enough time to finish a route before moving onto the next, but this led to many bus drivers driving all over the county.
Since then, JCPS has had a shortage of bus drivers. According to the records, of the 47 drivers who left since last June, 31 resigned and 15 retired. About 14,000 students lost bussing transportation after Polio’s new decision to cut transportation for those students attending magnet or traditional schools that are not their reside schools.
Caused by the cut of bussing, many schools around the county have resorted to more car riders. From all over the county, there are over 5,000 new car riders. Many schools have lines backing up on public streets causing other citizens to be late for work, school, or in general.
Ms. Purlee, who helps in the morning in the car rider line, spoke on the issue.
“I don’t think it’s safe anymore with only one adult to handle student drivers, all of the students who are getting dropped off by parents, and by parents being distracted. I typically have 6 to 7 kids being late to the first period either by the buses or car rider line. I think the car rider line is about the same since the first week of school as far as what I see in the back parking lot. I think people go to the front more and not as busy in the back as the front.”
But it’s not just the car rider line, the student parking lot is also becoming an issue as well. I spoke with Britzayda Roque, 12, who drives to school in the morning.
“In the morning and afternoon, Students like to stand behind cars and talk, which makes it hard to get out or get in. Then in the afternoon, there’s only two exits, so it makes it hard to get out as well. In the afternoon, parents like to park in the student lot to pick up their kids, which makes it busy, and also hard to get out sometimes.”
As a fellow car rider, I hope to see an improvement with the car rider line and the student parking lot. I also hope to see other schools like ours who are affected in the morning and after school make a plan to control the backup to help our community as a whole.
