MARBLE – Parents, and grandparents, of Cherokee County Schools bus riders are growing irritated over a flurry of late and cancelled bus routes.
School bus transportation in Cherokee County was already fraught with complications, from mountain roads, inclement weather and a shortage of drivers. When the school district consolidated elementary and middle schools beginning this school year, it only made things more complicated for transportation.
In the consolidation, Martins Creek sent its middle schoolers to Murphy, while Ranger sent its middle schoolers to Hiwassee Dam. Meanwhile, Hiwassee Dam elementary school students were sent to Ranger.
To accommodate the new routes, the school district set up a system of transfer stations – a child could pick up their normal bus ride from home, but would transfer to another bus to take them to their actual school. A similar arrangement takes them home at the end of the day.
Parents are complaining about canceled buses when drivers call out sick.
“I need to address an ongoing issue, the unreliable bus transportation,” Harmony Lea Tersanschi posted on Facebook on April 29. “All year, we’ve dealt with buses not running, last-minute changes and zero real solutions. But today was beyond unacceptable.
“At 2:50 p.m., I received a call from the school telling me that my son’s second bus, the one that picks him up from his transfer school and brings him home, would not be running. That left my child stranded at another school with no transportation home until I could get there.
“Like many parents, I have a bit of a commute to work. There was no reasonable way for me to get there in time. My son was left waiting alone until I could make it, which is not only frustrating, it’s concerning.
"I called the central office, and the response I received was essentially: ‘There’s nothing we can do if a driver calls out and we don’t have a substitute.’ When I asked why another bus already on route couldn’t step in or ‘double up,’ I was told I’d need to leave a message for someone else.
“That is not a solution. Parents depend on school transportation to be reliable and safe. We plan our jobs, schedules, and lives around it. Leaving children stranded because there’s no backup plan is unacceptable! Something has to change. There needs to be a contingency plan when drivers call out, whether that’s backup drivers, route adjustments or better communication well in advance. This is not a one-time issue, and it’s not OK,” she said.
Tersanschi didn’t leave it at a Facebook post and calls to the school offices. She appeared at Thursday’s meeting of the Cherokee County Board of Education as well.
And she wasn’t alone.
David Liden, a grandparent who sat in line waiting to pick up his grandchild recently, also addressed his concerns about bus transportation, citing low pay and a lack of benefits being offered to bus drivers. He called it a moral obligation and said getting children to school should be a top priority.
Liden and Tersanschi spoke during the public comment portion of the school board meeting. School board members and staff did not immediately reply to their concerns, but later in the meeting one did.
School board member Jeff Tatham said the school bus situation, if not now, will soon be a crisis.
“There’s no magic wand, but our job is to make it better,” he said.
Cherokee County Schools has an enrollment of about 3,100 students, with a significant portion using buses.
Any student assigned to a school that is one and a half miles or more from his or her residence is eligible for transportation services to and from school. In addition, a student identified as having special needs will be provided with transportation services if designated by federal and state laws and regulations.