For the past few months, Navarro ISD Administration has been researching and looking into many options to solve a serious and increasing problem of students not being able to be transported to school and home in a reasonable time.

• In March, we had to run double routes 24 times impacting students on time arrival, and late delivery home for approximately 260 students at all grade levels.
• In April, that rose to 42 times impacting over 300 students at all grade levels.
• This month we have already had double runs 20 times.
• At least two times a week we are asking teachers and coaches with CDLs to assist to get students to and from school. This is an additional burden for those educators who are working hard to teach each day and they sometimes tell us they are unable to pick up shifts.

The Director of Transportation anticipates that next year, with increased enrollment and ridership, we will need to add two more routes to our current schedule in order to keep up with the growth. With limited staff, she anticipates if we keep the same schedule, with no staggered times, we will need to run double routes 90% of the year. When we run a double route, students have to wait an hour or more for the bus to complete the route and come back to pick them up. She anticipates this will cause students to be late to school in the mornings if they are taking the bus. All grades would still be transported together causing late pick up and drop offs across all campuses.

With staggered start times:

• We would be able to cut three routes from the schedule next school year.
• Double runs would only be needed if we had driver absences.
• Students would arrive on time in the mornings.
• We will be able to separate the elementary and intermediate students from the junior high and high school students unless the students are on one of our long-distance routes coming from the far end of the district. Those buses would include all grade levels because there is a smaller number coming from that portion of the district.

We know this change impacts all families differently and we have researched and asked for feedback from faculty, staff, parents, and the community to find ways to lessen the impacts as much as possible. At the March 25 Board meeting, we shared the issues that are causing us to consider staggered starts. We also showed the survey results from our staggered start survey which can be found on our website in the Powerpoint presentation shared with the community at the Board meeting on March 25. (View that presentation as agenda item 7a for the March 2024 Board Meeting Agenda). The survey was created to give everyone an opportunity to share their thoughts and much like last year's survey, we saw a fairly even split for and against. This data is part of the discussion along with individual conversations with families and teachers.

With carpools, community support, and continued discussions of engaging students in after school clubs and activities, we are working on solutions. Panther Club will charge $215 per month (with a snack provided) and care until 6:00pm. We are adding study halls in the morning for secondary students so they can come at the same time as younger siblings before school. We are actively exploring solutions to the challenges of growth, transportation, and scheduling. Over the summer, our Transportation Department will be working to consolidate stops where locations permit to improve efficiency.

We want to work for solutions that allow for our students who must ride the bus to get to class on time instead of consistently coming late and missing instruction and I want to limit what we saw this year with students having to wait until almost 5:00 some days to be picked up by a double run bus to go home. Below you will find more details of what we have already arranged for next year.

Recently, we priced charter buses for a field trip and were quoted approximately $1,200 for a five hour field trip for one bus that seats 45 (school buses seat 70). This option is cost prohibitive, and also would be subject to availability so it is not a viable option for this situation.

Unfortunately, nationwide there is a shortage of school bus drivers for school districts and outsource companies, and even with all of our increased efforts, we too are seeing a shortage in drivers that is negatively impacting operations.