Bethel School District parents voice concerns over troubled bus transportation system

This photo shows a Bethel School District school bus. Many bus drivers in the district have reported that they feel overburdened, underappreciated, and underpaid. Parents with children in the Bethel School District want something to be done about problems plaguing the transportation system that gets their students to and from school.

“I know, our particular driver, her route has exponentially gotten larger. She’s expected to do that same route within the same amount of time, with extra kids,” parent Alicia Posey, who lives in Roy, said. “I know they’re extremely stressed, and it’s causing a lot of problems.”In a rural area, Posey added the school bus service is vital, and these issues impact them greatly.

“I’m lucky enough to have a relatively flexible schedule right now, but a lot of my neighbors don’t. I’ve had to drive their high schoolers and their kids to the school as a favor. They’ve had to drive mine because we don’t get a lot of notification, and we don’t get a lot of time to make adjustments,” Posey said.

“My heart breaks for the drivers that we have now,” Morris said, “your plates are full. You have too many children on your bus. You’ve got too many kids that are picking on other children on the bus for you to handle. They’re getting the short end of the stick from the district. It is time for our officials to step up and do something.”Douglas Boyles, a spokesperson for the Bethel School District, responded to some of those questions through email.

“We are working hard to recruit more drivers. We currently have 17 potential drivers to interview in the next few days. Drivers we hire will then begin a two-month process to get their CDL. In the meantime, we are looking at other options to increase reliability and decrease last-minute changes and notifications that hurt families, students, and staff.

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