PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — WPTV listened and gathered several story ideas focused on back to school and one issue came from a mom and her daughter who is a seventh grader at Don Estridge High Tech Middle School. They sat down with me to talk about overcrowded buses.
“There’s a stop before them and they’re the second stop that goes to school and by the time they go to get on the bus in the morning, there weren’t enough seats on the bus for all the kids," Sarah Phillips said. "Kids were standing as their bus was moving, they’re sitting three or more kids to a seat. I don’t see how it’s the parents’ responsibility to make sure there are enough drivers and buses to take the kids to school.”
The mom also told WPTV, when she reached out to the district, they said there was nothing they could do about it and that there is a school bus driver shortage.
I emailed the district right after our interview to get her some answers.
The Palm Beach County School District responded with the following statement:
The safety of our students is our top priority. Please note that the beginning of every school year is a dynamic period for our Transportation Department. Initial bus routes are planned based on students who are registered for transportation. However, as student ridership numbers settle during the first few weeks, we make regular adjustments to our routes. This process is essential to accommodate students who did not register before the school year or just began riding the bus.
This annual adjustment period can lead to temporary instances of overcrowding on some buses. Our transportation team takes all reports of overcrowding very seriously and works diligently to resolve these situations as swiftly as possible by rebalancing routes as ridership stabilizes.
To help us ensure a safe and efficient transportation system for everyone, we remind families of the importance of registering their child for a bus route. This essential step provides us with the accurate data needed to manage bus routes and capacity effectively. We remind all families with transportation questions to contact our Transportation Call Center at 561-357-1110 for assistance.
The School District of Palm Beach County currently has its lowest bus driver vacancy rate in years. We have 527 total qualified bus drivers, and we operate 487 routes. We are also actively working to fill approximately 60 vacancies. Our goal is always to have more drivers than routes to ensure we can cover all shifts and maintain bus service, even when drivers need to be off work for any reason. Please note we have a qualified bus driver for every route we have with room to make adjustments as needed.
Overcrowded school buses is an issue we have heard about from several parents over the past week, both in Palm Beach County and on the Treasure Coast.
We'll continue covering this story as the new school year progresses.
