Superintendent of Christian County Public Schools Chris Bentzel sent the following to parents this week, and also is sharing it with the community, regarding some bus route cancellations.
Good afternoon parents,
I want to acknowledge that for some of you, this may have been a frustrating week with multiple bus routes being canceled. First, if you were one of the families affected by this week’s cancellations, let me say how deeply sorry I am for the inconvenience and hardship I know this can place on our families. We do everything in our power to prevent canceling routes, even doubling routes before making the call to cancel a route. It is never a decision we take lightly. If ever you are affected by a route cancellation, I urge you to contact your school to help find the best solution in regard to after-school transportation. Elementary schools have after-school programs in place to help and assist parents and our FRYSCs can oftentimes be a source of support in situations where transportation is an issue.
Christian County Schools, like many school districts across the country, is facing a dire problem when it comes to a shortage of drivers for our buses. Thankfully, on most days our bus garage is equipped to handle the almost 90 routes run each day. Over the past week, the bus garage has been hit with numerous drivers out for sickness. In turn, this has stretched our available driver numbers very thin. Ultimately, we are faced with a shortage of sub-drivers. We are fortunate to have several teachers, administrators, coaches, and other staff across the district who can fill in as sub-drivers when needed. We have utilized these people in a number of cases, unfortunately, there just simply aren’t enough sub-drivers when we have a large number of our regular drivers out. In addition, afternoon routes are often harder to fill because of the number of drivers filling trip requests throughout the day and after school activities.
We are thankful for each and every one of our drivers and appreciate the PHENOMENAL job they do each day. The district is working hard to increase the number of available drivers through continued recruitment efforts for both full-time or subs, training additional staff interested in driving, and working to find alternative solutions that will eliminate the need to cancel routes. If you are interested in driving a bus or know of someone who might be, please contact the bus garage or check out the available opportunities to drive a bus on our website.
MORE: Christian County Schools employment site
Parents, I want to again emphasize that we are here to help when transportation issues arise. Please don’t hesitate to call your school for assistance with transportation needs if routes are canceled or disrupted. We are also thankful for community partners who offer afterschool programs like the Boys and Girls Clubs and our elementary schools who provide afterschool programs for students.
As always, I consider it a privilege to serve as your superintendent. Have a good rest of your day and enjoy your weekend.
Chris Bentzel, Superintendent, Christian County Public Schools