Here's what to know about the major changes to Terrebonne Parish school bus routes

Terrebonne Parish school bus routes are online with some big changes.

Terrebonne Parish Superintendent Bubba Orgeron said major changes had to be made to bus routes because the busing system had been floundering since Hurricane Ida. He delivered the report during the Terrebonne Parish School Board meeting, Tuesday, Aug. 1, as a last-minute added item. The new system will be in place on Terrebonne Parish's first day of school, Monday, Aug. 7.

According to Orgeron, a nationwide bus driver shortage was one factor, but inefficient routes were a major source of lost time, too. Every school had late times varying between 40 to 28 minutes, and these changes look to address those going forward.

"This was consistent, not isolated," Orgeron said. "When you think of late to school for 30 minutes [every day], that's roughly three weeks of instructional time lost for the year. That's a problem. We had a choice to make, do we keep doing the same thing, and letting kids come to school late, or do we try to make adjustments."

The new routes can be seen on the main website by clicking on a button that says Bus Routes. The image of the button looks like the front of a school bus. Readers also can get to the routes directly by clicking here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1g8IriFrrlowv7Q7fXyrAcaBomjAy6Uif?usp=drive_link. The link will take people to a list of pdf files that list the stops for their respective schools.

Drivers will get students from wherever they are for the first three days of school and, if they are at the wrong location, will direct them where to go.

Orgeron listed three main changes: community stops, a non-pickup zone around the schools and combining some grades on the bus.

"It's going to be rough for about a week or more, but it's going to get better," Orgeron said.

Combined Stops

Orgeron explained that in the past, with very few exceptions, buses stopped at each student's house to pick them up. This was a massive time drain for bus drivers, because each stop added minutes to the route.

"Last year there were no community stops?," Board Member Debi Benoit asked with surprise in her voice. "Oh my god! I didn't realize that. That's the problem."

Bus stops have been mapped out to ensure the maximum distance a student will have to walk is based on their grade level. Elementary students will at most have to walk 200 yards, for middle school it will be up to 400 yards, and up to 600 yards for high school. Pre-K and kindergarten will still be picked up at their homes.

The changes reduced the total number of stops from 6,000 to about 4,500. According to Orgeron, the stops were chosen with safety in mind.

"If any of these are along a major highway or areas that you have got to cross a highway, it's not going to be a stop," Orgeron said. "It's going to be safe stops."

Non Service Zone

There will be a quarter-mile zone around schools where buses will not stop to pick up students. Students may either move outside of the zone to grab a bus ride, or find other means to get to the school.

School board member Michael Lagarde raised concerns about students having to walk across major highways such as to Honduras Elementary School. Orgeron said there were exceptions, such as that school, and advised parents to check the routes because the zones are irregular for a handful of schools to ensure safety.

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Merging Grades

The eastside of Houma will see middle- and high-school students combined on the busses. This will reduce the number of trips buses have to make from three to two.

"So what that's going to do is prevent a driver from having to go all the way down to Chauvin twice," Orgeron said. "It's really no different from what we do for Houma Jr. High and Terrebonne High, except that we are adding fifth and sixth grade."

Orgeron preemptively defended the decision by saying other school districts already do this.

Live feed cameras will be installed on the buses to monitor children's actions in real time. There will also be designated seating arrangements with middle school children in the front and high school students in the back.

Driver Shortage

Last year the school district had 28 vacant routes, causing drivers to double up on routes to get kids to the schools. Orgeron said there was no way students could arrive on time, because drivers could not be in two places at once.

These new changes reduce the number of vacant routes to 17, and the school district has eight people in training, which will reduce those routes even further.

The current routes have been drawn up to account for every student at a school. Once principals gather the first week's data, Orgeron explained, routes will be able to account for students who will not be riding the bus, potentially refining routes even further.

"So we have room within those nine vacant routes to reduce that even further," he said.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Here are the major changes to Terrebonne Parish school bus routes