School leaders offer tips for parents to help buses stay on schedule

JACKSON, Tenn. — Weather can cause traffic delays anywhere, including school bus routes.

Weather, especially rainy days, can mean late buses. But what do you do when your child’s bus is taking a little while longer to get to the bus stop?

“When a driver is running late, they call me on the radio, I call the schools to let them know that the bus driver will be late, and they will send a message out to those parents or answer any calls that they get from those parents,” said Keisha Burford, the bus dispatcher at Jackson-Madison County Schools. She is in constant communication with bus drivers on their morning routes.

“If a bus breaks down, we have to do the protocol. It’s going to take a few minutes for them to get there, but we are working on getting the drivers out there,” she said.

Dr. Bryan Chandler says parents can help the buses stay on schedule.

“For example, our average stop is 25 seconds. So that’s the time the bus stops, opens their doors, the students load, the students sit down, and the bus starts to their next stop,” he said.

However, if a student is not ready when the bus gets to its stop, “25 seconds, maybe 35 seconds, and if you multiply that over 25 or 30 stops that the bus does, you can see where that can cause some delays,” Chandler said.

Students need to watch for their bus, even if they’re inside waiting out of the rain.

“When you see that bus approaching, go ahead, get them out, get them ready, so they’re standing at their stop ready to load that bus as quickly as possible,” Chandler said.

Lastly, Dr. Chandler tells his bus drivers, it’s OK to be late, but be safe. If your child’s bus is running late, you can call Keisha Burford at the bus dispatch at 731-988-3890.