I know I can speak for our entire staff when I share how excited we are to see all our students back this week. We are also very pleased to see many more students and staff wearing masks. Today I am writing to share a quick update on busing and transportation.
If you have followed our social media or driven by our school signs, we have asked Santa to deliver us a few full-time bus drivers. Unfortunately we did not get our wish and are still searching for two drivers. While we continue our search, our drivers continue to demonstrate amazing teamwork as they combine routes, help one another and ensure our kids all get to school, arrive home and to their athletic events each day.
Combining routes has resulted in some longer bus rides, new faces for students and more crowded buses. I also want to share specifically how this driver shortage may impact our students as we move forward. While we have been lucky to date and combining routes has allowed all of our students to arrive at school and their events on-time, if just one of our drivers were to fall ill, students may arrive late to school, be late arriving home and may have a delayed start to extracurricular activities. We want everyone to know that we will never compromise student safety as we make changes to get everyone to school, home or events. We will do our very best with the situation we are dealt, and transporting students safely remains a top priority.
I am also calling to ask that anyone who may know someone interested in driving a school bus to have them contact our transportation supervisor, Mr. Fisher directly at 330.527.4336 or via email at rfisher@jagschools.org.
The impact of COVID continues to ripple throughout our community, and this is simply the latest hurdle we need to overcome. As we have done with previous obstacles, we will approach it thoughtfully and through a lens of what is safest for our students and staff.
In closing, I encourage you to take an opportunity to thank your bus driver, transportation secretary, Mrs. Berecek, and supervisor, Mr. Fisher if you get an opportunity. Our transportation department does an amazing job, and they all care deeply about your children. We should all be very proud of them.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me directly. Have a great day, and Go G-Men!
Ted