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Rutherford County Schools warn parents of route changes, note cul-de-sac limits and driver shortages
Summary
District staff said policy requires no student walk more than 0.2 mile to a stop, warned older cul-de-sacs and gated communities complicate routing, and reported nine open routes (five SPED); staff recommended spare-bus numbering and asked parents to check assigned bus numbers before school starts.
Rutherford County Schools told the board Wednesday that a full rerouting of the county's buses has revealed several operational challenges — tight cul-de-sacs, access to gated communities, unnumbered spare buses and ongoing driver shortages — and urged parents to verify their children's assigned bus numbers before the school year begins.
"Our policy states that no child is to be asked to walk further than 0.2 of a mile," Mister Lee, the district staff member who leads transportation logistics, said while showing routing examples that place stops at cul-de-sac entrances. He said older subdivisions often lack the turning radius for large buses, forcing drivers to perform reverse maneuvers.
Board members asked whether the walking-distance rule should be changed. "Are you alluding to potentially expanding that?" board member Dr. Sullivan asked; the director's office cautioned against widening the policy without creating other routing problems.
Lee also addressed gated communities, saying many private roads prevent safe bus turns and that drivers should not be expected to leave buses to operate gate systems. "If it's a gated community and they provide us a turnaround, we go to the gate; otherwise the children have to come to the gate," Lee said.
Operational fixes the district proposed include assigning permanent numbers to all spare buses so parents receive accurate callouts when substitute vehicles are used. Lee described past practice where drivers put magnets over numbers on spare vehicles and sometimes failed to notify the district.
On staffing, the director of schools reported nine open routes districtwide, five of them SPED routes. The district said it is exploring options such as raising pay, offering shorter hours with full benefits (a six-hour schedule used in other districts) and seeking qualified CDL drivers among current staff.
The district encouraged parents to check bus assignments on the district website and said staff will push communications next week to reduce confusion on the first day of school.
