On the road again...
By Debbie Farrell
As the new school year starts at Warren County
R-III Schools, the Transportation Department has made some changes
to help make the year run more smoothly. These changes are made to
adjust the growing needs of our community, and to provide the
safest and most cost efficient transportation for our students.
Safe transportation for our students is the number one priority,
and all measures will be taken to assure this.
One of the newest challenges that the district
is facing is the cost of fuel. In the last two years, we have seen
a significant increase in fuel prices and it has greatly affected
the cost to operate our bus fleet.
We are currently looking at several options to help reduce the
amount of fuel for our bus fleet. Be assured that these
options will not interfere with the normal transportation to and
from school at this time. Hopefully, oil prices will be lower and
fuel cost will return to a more consumer-friendly price in the
future. This is an issue that we will continue to monitor and
adjust our needs accordingly.
On a different note, I would like to
answer one of the most frequently asked questions in the
transportation department, “Why do we run double routes?” There are
a number of reasons for double routes, and hopefully with this
response, it will better explain this issue
Double routes reduce the number of buses and
drivers that are required to transport nearly 1,700 students daily.
In turn, this also saves the district a large amount of funds in
fuel cost. With double routes, it helps us to transport a
significantly large number of students to school, in a timely
manner in order to attend the morning programs offered by the
district. It also allows time for students to address most issues
before classes start.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and
Secondary Education (DESE) have established guidelines for school
districts to follow in order to receive state funding for
transportation. The additional funding allows us to save more local
tax money for bus transportation.
Even though we are still in the summer season,
winter is fast approaching. Within the next couple of months, we
will have the new snow route schedule prepared. Once the schedule
has been finalized, it will be posted on the website.
As our school district grows and more students use the districts buses for transportation, changes will be occurring more often than in the past. All changes will be handled as quickly as possible to insure that students have a comfortable and safe ride to and from school.
