After school programs have begun and for some students that means getting home later in the day.
Jimmy Sprague, Transportation Supervisor, is asking parents of these students to be patient as bus drivers become familiar with the after school routes.
“We’re getting ready to start the second part of our After School Program,” said Sprague. “The first part is what is called the 21st Century Program. It deals with our middle school and high school students. It started off real well. We haven’t really had many issues at all. We’re getting ready now to start what is called the LEAP’s Program. That is our elementary school students from Northside and Smithville Elementary. These are young children and they often don’t know their address. They will tell us, I live in the white house. Well, every street has a white house. The schools are working with us to provide address forms on their shirts when they get on the buses. I ask the parents to be patient with us. We’ll get them home safely. Just bear with us because everybody is new and we’re learning our routes on the After School Program. Please be patient. Times will get better as we learn our routes and things (times) will be more consistent. Last year we got a lot of calls from the 911 center, people looking for their kids. I understand that. But please understand, we’re working our way to you. We will get to you and the times will get better. Just be patient with us,” said Sprague
Currently, the latest some students may arrive home is approximately 6:45 p.m. “Starting out, you’re looking at 6:45 p.m. My goal is to get them all home by 6:30 p.m. We’ll accomplish that goal buts it’s going to take trial and error in getting our routes down. We’ll get there. That’s where the patience comes in. I ask the parents to be patient with us and give us an opportunity to get them home. As we get further into it, the times will get better and be more consistent,” said Sprague