COLUMBIA, Md. — School bus driver shortage or not, the Howard County school board voted to terminate contracts with all local school bus contractors and then reversed itself months later after a lawsuit was filed before reaching an agreement.
“The mediation has finally come to a close after a long time, and we’re happy to say that the bus drivers can now be at ease. They have a job,” said Mindy Roche of Bowen’s Bus Service in Glenelg, “The agreement is for another three years.”
With the contractors’ lawsuit resolved, the school system still faces challenges with new start times impacting thousands of children.
To keep its transportation costs in check, the system eliminated some routes while forcing more students to walk to school this year—-up to a mile for those in pre-kindergarten through the fifth grade.
“If it was my child, I would want to supervise them to school,” said Deborah Sauers of the Pointers Run Community, “These paths are not always the safest place and you send a five or six-year-old down that path and over to the school? I wouldn’t do it."
Changes in start times prompted by studies that show high school students can perform better by starting their day later, even if parents lose sleep over the impact it may have on getting younger children to and from school safely.
“The safety aspect as far as kids walking to and from school without sidewalks. Crossing guards may not be there. You could have sexual predators out there,” said Roche, “It really worries me.”
