Board approves tiered bell schedule to add about 20 bus drivers and cover routes

Wayne County Board of Education members voted on March 3 to move to a tiered bell schedule that shifts some middle- and high-school start and stop times to enable more efficient bus routing and to add capacity to cover routes.

Superintendent Richard Witcher said transportation staff modeled several options and determined that adjusting middle-school start times by about 15 minutes and changing several high-school start times by roughly 30 minutes would allow the district to add about 20 drivers to its pool and cover routes that are currently unserved. "It looks like this will yield us an additional 20 bus drivers to cover routes for Wayne County Public Schools," Witcher said, describing the plan as a path toward fully covered bus routes.

The superintendent and transportation staff said the tiered approach would also create duplicate or double routes for many drivers, which could extend benefit eligibility for certain drivers who had previously been ineligible, and make drivers’ schedules more stable.

Board members asked whether the change had been mapped for timing and what the effect on staff hours would be; transportation staff confirmed the plan was modeled and argued it was feasible. The facilities committee recommended the change and the board approved the opening/closing times for the 2025–26 school year unanimously.

Ending: The schedule changes will be implemented for 2025–26 to take effect when the district publishes the final academic calendar and routing; staff said the move aims to reduce reliance on ad hoc family transport and to stabilize driver staffing.