Dear Parents of PCPS Students,
As most know, there have been a few issues with transportation during the opening of school this year. The two primary factors contributing to this are the incorporation of new (untested) routes with the consolidated middle school and the fact that we are operating with thirteen less drivers than in pre-Covid years. Although we have been committed to returning our routes to as close to normal as possible, it now seems that there is at least a chance that we might have to pull back to modified routes similar to those used last year. The next few days should determine whether or not we will be able to make the regular routes work. It would be helpful in the interim if families could assist our bus drivers with the following two issues:
1. If at all possible, pick up your students in the afternoon if you drive them in the morning. We realize that this isn't going to be an option for every family but the significantly higher number of students riding in the afternoon means that we have to create additional runs to get everyone home.
2. Make sure that older students know their home address and that they are able to identify their home from inside of a moving vehicle. This was an unexpected issue yesterday with middle and high school students that caused buses to have to rerun portions of their routes multiple times until the students were finally able to determine which house was theirs.
Thank you for your patience, understanding, and assistance as we continue to work toward establishing regular routes that will allow students to be picked up and dropped off in close proximity to their homes. It is our sincerest hope that we will be able to make this work as we recognize that the modified routes used last year placed an additional burden on our families and would like to emphasize that we are doing everything possible to relieve them of that burden for the current school year.
Sincerely,
Dr. Kevin W. Siers, Superintendent