Fayette County Parents Upset Over New Bus Routes

(Fayette County, TN) It seems one of the biggest problems when a new school year starts isn’t teaching kids, but getting them to class.

Parents in Fayette County have been lighting up the Central Office switchboard,  frustrated about the county’s new school bus routes.

One of them is Satrina Brown, “I have six kids, all of them going to Fayette County schools. Been in Fayette County schools all their life.”

Brown said she wasn’t expecting her children to have any problems going back to school.

But Monday morning, new bus routes caused her major problems, “Early morning, five o’clock, first day of school, no buses to be seen on my route. I’m on a main highway, no dead-end. No calls from the superintendent saying no buses gonna run, no nothin’.”

Brown ended up driving two of her children to school.

She wasn’t the only parent frustrated by late or no-show school buses.

Fayette County Schools Director James Teague said he and his staff are working to correct the problems, “If you will be patient with us, we think we can work out all the bugs, all the problems, all the glitches of this new transportation system.”

The new bus routes and start and stop times at all county schools are meant to save taxpayers money, not cause headaches.

New routes mean bus stops will be farther apart in neighborhoods and subdivisions.

The new policy means buses will no longer be half full of students, instead they will carry the maximum amount of students allowed.

Brown had a rough Monday night, “Last night, my youngest two kids got home at 6:45.”

Teague says the first day of school never goes quite like it should, “We had some buses that were an hour late getting students home. We had some buses that were an hour and a half late getting students home. That is not acceptable and we’re doing our best to resolve all those problems.”

He said student safety in Fayette County is a priority and parents shouldn’t hesitate to express their concerns.