This year, buses have been late due to the challenge of hiring bus drivers, bus drivers learning the new routes and students who are not yet familiar with or using the smart tag system. Buses being late can affect students and teachers by cutting into class time and students lose time for them to learn.
First and fifth period teachers have said that they help accommodate buses being late by starting teaching around 15 minutes after school has begun.
“For this year I have purposefully put things into place to stall class so that most buses can still get here,” business teacher Ryan Norwood said. “So I have been trying to do things as a teacher personally to lessen that impact on them. I try to reserve the main core of what I want them to learn or if there is a major project or assignment that we are working on until about 10-15 minutes after the school has started”
Regularly missing instruction and class time could cause students to miss work and lectures and fall behind.
“I feel like when I try to go back and re-learn it or go over them I always end up missing what we are currently learning,” Freshman Lasya Kandagatla said. “It’s like a butterfly effect. I can’t ever get back on it without missing something else. I get home around 5:30, 5:50 or 6:00 [p.m.] sometimes and so when that does happen I feel like by the time I get home, rest and get ready it is already around 9:00 and I am too tired to do anything so it always ends up stacking up.”
Missing content for classes consistently due to buses can be stressful for some students. Sophomore Quinn Adamson said that it can be a pain to consistently miss class.
“I think that as a student it’s frustrating,” English Teacher Karina Contreras said. “When you get here and you have no idea what you’re doing and your bus [was]late, it’s super early in the morning, and now you have to figure out all the things that you have missed. It is kinda discouraging for some students.“
Students’ extracurricular activities that occur after school can be affected when they arrive home late due to a bus.
“The bus comes late, I get home late, and I have to sprint to my house to make sure I get home on time,” Sophomore Paven Menon said. “So I can go to these extracurricular classes because some of them are a drive away, 10-15 minutes. Some of them are right when I get home, so when the bus is late I reach home late. I have to explain to my teacher that my bus was late and I couldn’t reach class on time.”
