Cape schools to run time test for buses

It's 7:40 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 12. You glance out your living room window just in time to see a school bus pulling away from the corner, and your children are still snoozing in bed.

Don't panic.

Due to changes in bus routes, Cape Girardeau School District buses will make a real time test run the day before school starts.

"We don't want anyone freaking out if they see buses driving around town, making stops Tuesday," said superintendent Mark Bowles. "School really does start Wednesday, we're just going to be testing our timing."

The most significant change to this year's routes is the division of the estimated 800 kindergarten to fourth-grade students and fifth- and sixth-grade students. The buses will be distinguished by colorful magnetic stickers indicating whether it is bound for an elementary or middle school.

Last year, students going to the elementary schools rode the same buses as students from their neighborhood going to Central Middle School.

The elementary and middle schools start and dismiss at the same, which caused numerous problems because the buses couldn't be at two places at once, said Bowles. In the morning, elementary students would be dropped off early for school, while middle school students would arrive closer to the start of classes.

But the real issue behind the bus route changes was the afternoon pickup schedule. Elementary students were picked up first, when school let out at 3:15 p.m. The buses then proceeded to the middle school to pick up those students before actually beginning the routes.

"There was a huge problem with supervision," Bowles said. "There were 400 bus riders with nothing to do for 20 minutes every afternoon."

Eventually, the district solved most of the problem by keeping the students in the gymnasium with additional staff members to supervise them.

As the buses arrived, groups of students were released from the gym.

Middle school assistant principal Debbie Followell said she thinks the new system will be much more efficient for both students and staff.

"Initially, it was chaotic. The students' day ends at 3:15 p.m., and they want to go home," Followell said. "They don't want to sit in a gymnasium waiting to get their ride home. It wasn't an easy duty for the staff."

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128