An estimated 15,000 students return in local system

ALBANY — An estimated 15,000 students in the Dougherty County School system begin classes today, which means school buses will be back on the roads transporting at least 55 percent of those students to and from school, according to system officials.

“The plan is that we will be running 120 buses this year,” said Assistant Superintendent Jack Willis. “The buses will be adjusted to facilitate needs. We have steadily, in the last three and a half years, consolidated routes, which has saved us a great deal of money and also time. We will start with 120 buses, and those buses will run about 422 routes.

“We also have about 20 all-day shuttles,” added Willis. “These are buses that work all day, shuttling the kids from their zoned schools to special programs such as Move on When Ready, dual enrollment or the Life Lab program.”

To monitor and manage such a large number of buses, Dougherty County employs Zonar Fleet Management.

“We have the Zonar program that has been with us now for a couple of years,” said Willis. “Zonar can give us really more information than we need. It tells you when the bus is cranked up in the morning, it tells us when the bus reaches the stops that the route is designed to run and what time that they stop, in case there is a concern about whether a bus is running on time or not.

“We are also looking to add a component to the current system to scan the students as they get on and off the bus. The kids would have a chip (tracking device) that could be scanned. They could put it on their book bags or around their neck. We are looking to add that as another component to the management system.”

According to Willis, the student tracking device would most likely be employed at the schools themselves in the near future. The assistant superintendent admitted that, at his age, the gathering of so much data is disturbing, but many see it as a safety and security precaution.

Most transportation issues, as far as parents are concerned, have not really changed this year. Basic routes, pick-up points and schedules are the same, according to officials. Parents can visit the Dougherty County Schools website for transportation information or visit their individual child’s school.

“The most important thing for student transportation is parents should know the approximate time that they can expect the bus for pick-up, and the kids need to be at the stop about 10 minutes prior to that,” said Willis. “The second most important thing is that if you carry your child to school, please find out what bus they are supposed to ride and let somebody know. If you already know what bus your child should ride home, please let someone at the school know. That will help us a great deal.”

“And No. 3, (Tuesday) afternoon and the first several days, be patient. They probably will not get home at the time that they will get home the week after next. After the first couple of days, the schedule will get better.”