Despite concerns from parents of elementary school students about early bell times, Loudoun County Public Schools’ staff is recommending those times remain the same, alluding that changes would require dozens more bus drivers and cost millions to fund.
During a board meeting Tuesday, Chief Operations Officer Kevin Lewis said that under the current schedule, bus reliability has improved and the school division has eliminated over 100 second loads. Second loads occur when a bus driver finishes one run to pick up or drop off kids and then has do a second run for the same school.
The school system explored a number of possible changes, but found they’d require additional staffing help.
LCPS elementary schools start at either 7:30 a.m., 7:45 a.m. or 8 a.m. Ten schools were shifted to a 7:45 a.m. start this fall in response to community concerns. But parents of kids who attend schools with the earliest start time say their kids are tired, don’t want to eat breakfast and sometimes have to stand in the dark waiting for a bus.
“I have not been ready to say, ‘Sorry, elementary school families, you’re going to have to suck it up because we can’t create a better solution for you,'” Board member Anne Donohue said.
In one scenario the district explored, elementary schoolers would only start at 7:45 a.m. and 8 a.m. But that plan would require 83 additional drivers. Starting all elementary schools at 7:50 a.m., Lewis said, would require 117 additional drivers.
“From a staff perspective, we’re recommending to stay with the current bell schedule,” Lewis said.
According to a division survey, 41% of people were either very satisfied or satisfied with the 7:30 a.m. start time. Seventy-nine percent were satisfied or very satisfied with the 7:45 a.m. elementary start time, and 90% were very satisfied or satisfied with the 8 a.m. elementary start time.
Though the school system has offered sign on and referral bonuses and a competitive starting wage, Lewis said it’s still had trouble recruiting and retaining drivers, making the possibility of bell schedule changes challenging.
The county is currently short about two dozen drivers, Lewis said, and it’s a two month process to get from training to starting to drive the bus. From October 2023 to September 2024, less than half of bus driver candidates who were offered the job went on to finish the training process.
“The reason for some of that gap is we have … communications skills,” Lewis said. “Sometimes there is just an awareness that they really don’t want to be a bus driver.”
The school system, Lewis said, is exploring the possibility of increasing the sign-on bonus and changing driver contracts to cover summer school.
Board Vice Chair Arben Istrefi said considering bell changes is “not really about the funding. It really is: How would we even recruit them? That’s the biggest issue for me at the moment.”
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
