LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — School buses running late — or not showing up at all — are testing the patience of Las Vegas area parents, but a new Clark County School District partnership with the Regional Transportation Commission aims to help get students to school on time.
“It is a perennial guessing game as to if and when the bus is coming," said Rebecca Garcia, one of many Clark County School District parents expressing those sentiments.
It has been several weeks since the start of the school year and late or missing buses remain an issue in the school district. Garcia says it’s the number one complaint on the CCSD Parents Facebook page.
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“Almost every single pending post is a complaint regarding late busing or buses not showing up,” she said.
A major reason for the issue is a driver shortage in the district, which currently has about 240 positions that still need to be filled.
To address the issue, CCSD is partnering with RTC to provide bus service for a number of high schools to get kids to campus on time free of charge starting Oct. 11. Current school bus drivers will remain employed.
Garcia says some parents were caught off-guard. "It’s been a little sudden and lacking in full details for parents so today it’s causing some concern for parents on how this would work,” she said.
She says the plan is a start and could help some parents. Her own high school son takes an RTC bus to school.
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“He takes RTC about half the time because it’s more reliable and closer to our house than if he was taking his assigned magnet school route,” Garcia said.
However, using public buses has prompted some safety concerns from others.
“Just imagine there’s someone who could possibly be a pedophile and could be talking to one of the students,” said parent David Gomez.
RTC says buses are equipped with cameras inside and students can notify a bus driver about a threat, which is then relayed to security personnel and CCSD staff.
CCSD says it is actively hiring bus drivers. For anyone interested in working details can be found here.
