Transportation troubles are keeping Fluvanna County students away from home longer than they planned. Some students aren't getting home until 6 p.m., three hours after school lets out. Parents are concerned and so are those at the top of the school division.
Administrators say the issue should be resolved by the end of the week. Buses are already arriving earlier on Tuesday, with school staff on high alert to make sure students quickly find the bus they need to board.
Gina Proulx, a concerned Fluvanna parent, said her 6-year-old son was an hour late Monday and, "was only the second stop, the bus driver still had many kids to get off the bus."
With a new school in the mix, the division rerouted every bus in the system and moved stops.
While the morning routes haven't been affected, Proulx says her son spent an extra hour on the bus Monday afternoon. She said, "He was a little tired. He was a little bit nauseous. He was cranky [and] carsick, because he been in the bus too long and it was warm in there."
Fluvanna County school administrators say the return delay was a domino effect, starting at Central Elementary School with students not knowing which new bus to get on. It snowballed at the next two schools, where students also didn't know which new bus to get on.
Fluvanna County Schools Operations Manager Tom Patrick said, "First day finding your bus, where it is in the lineup took longer than the five to 10 minutes it would usually take."
New group bus stops are replacing many individual stops, which is another concern for parents living along winding, rural roads.
Patrick said, "The reconfiguration, some of the routes for longer and we did our best to not have children on the bus any longer than we would have to."
The operations manager says budget cuts earlier this year are not a factor. Another automated message will go out Tuesday to parents. Fluvanna County administrators will also meet Thursday morning to check in on the progress.
