At the start of the new school year, the district eliminated several bus routes from previous years. The cuts were due to a lack of available trained bus drivers.

“We just didn’t have enough qualified drivers to run the routes,” Principal James Cross said. “You can have all the buses in the world, but if you don’t have anybody to drive them, you can’t do anything about it.”

The district removed routes within a mile radius of secondary schools and a half-mile radius of elementary schools. Approximately 50 bus routes in the district were eliminated under this new standard.

“I think that the bus cuts are inefficient,” senior Carl Stephens said. “The bus is emptier and going faster, but we could easily be picking up more people without having to spend any more money.”

The only high school bus routes maintained within the mile radius of the school are routes for students who qualify for special needs transportation, and routes that pass over areas considered to be hazardous conditions.

“Originally, it was going to be worse for us than we thought because they were not going to bus any of the students that live east of Grand Parkway,” Cross said. “A lot of parents were upset and said it was a hazardous condition because it is a major highway, so the district looked at that and they ended up restoring all those routes.”

Some students are against the bus route cuts, due to the difficulty of getting to school on time without bus transportation, and because of the increased traffic that has resulted from more students having to drive to school.

“If the schools cut down on the bus system, they need to improve and expand the driveways,” senior Nolan Hurd said. “They have to make traffic flow better, because the bus cuts are making traffic unbearable right now.”

The district is currently working towards reinstating some of the bus routes cut under the new transportation zoning system.

“They had a big recruiting fair, and my understanding is that they were able to sign several new drivers,” Cross said. “So I think they’re in the process of getting them trained and getting more routes put back in place.”