On first day of school, how are bus driver shortages and AC issues affecting Wake?

Wake County parents waited at the bus stop Monday hoping that the district’s undermanned transportation department would get their children to class on time.

North Carolina’s largest school district is starting the school year with a 35.75% bus driver vacancy rate that’s forcing it to stretch existing routes to make sure students get service. Until more bus drivers are hired, around 3,000 Wake County students are scheduled to arrive after classes have started at school each day.

The district says, though, it’s constantly trying to revise routes to minimize how many students arrive late.

Wake planned to have an update later Monday on how bus service went on the first day of traditional-calendar schools. Bus service is historically slower during the first few weeks of school as students get used to bus routes and the district determines which of the 90,000 registered riders aren’t using the bus after all.

Here Comes The Bus app

Like the rest of the nation, Wake is suffering from a shortage of bus drivers.

Wake has 581 drivers but also has 315 vacant positions. That’s 49 more vacancies than a year ago.

Interim Superintendent Randy Bridges has asked school employees to help out at the start of the school year. Wake County school board member Sam Hershey is among the people who are undergoing training to become a school bus driver to help out.

The shortage has been impacting the Here Comes The Bus app that provides families with information on when the bus is coming and where it’s located.

The app works by using the GPS unit of the bus assigned to the child’s route. But if the driver is out, Wake usually assigns a different bus to cover the route.

Bob Snidemiller, Wake’s senior director of transportation, said they need to update the app with the new bus GPS info before the vehicle leaves the yard. He said they get most of the changes updated in the app but not all due to the rush of so many buses leaving the bus yard.

Faulty AC sends students home early

Wake County continues to be plagued by air conditioning problems that are sending some students home early.

On Monday, East Millbrook Middle School in Raleigh dismissed classes three hours early at 11 a.m. “due to our HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning )system not working at full capacity and warm temperatures in the building.”

At least seven Wake year-round and modified-calendar schools had previously sent students home early at one point or another this summer due to HVAC issues.

Teachers at more than 50 Wake schools have complained that the air conditioning at their schools are not working properly. Wake blames a staffing shortage in its HVAC shop and parts delays for the problems.