CHARLOTTE — Out of 141,000 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students, 101,000 of them ride the bus.
But CMS continues to struggle shuttling them all because they just don’t have drivers, leaving the district to propose changes parents say will have a dramatic impact on their family’s quality of life.
“Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools as a whole in the transportation department has a major driver shortage that I would label as a crisis,” said Ellen Hefner, a parent.
CMS officials say on any given day, they’re running bus routes using around 640 drivers, when the district actually needs 750 to ensure students get to school on time in the morning and don’t spend hours getting home in the evening.
“The district is looking at a lot of different ways to make our bus routes and transpiration more efficient,” said CMS District 6 Representative on the Board of Education, Anna London.
One way CMS staff are proposing to do that: shift the bell schedule at seven campuses next school year, including South Academy of International Languages.
“It’s a very popular county wide magnet,” London said.
The bell schedule would shift from 8:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. to 9:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.
“49% of the people that responded to the survey said they may have to pull their kids out of the schools, that’s the last thing we want to happen,” said Hefner.
On Tuesday, a number of parents strongly opposing the recommendation met with CMS officials.
“If we lose enrollment numbers then we lose funding,” said Hefner. “That means we lose teachers. It’s incredibly hard to replace language immersion teachers.”
Parents say the school is incredibly unique, and a one hour difference could be an unintended consequence for a number of families.
“This is an opportunity that most children don’t have,” said parent Courtney Dean. “Not just to be bilingual, but to be biliterate.”
Most of the parents are clear about the solution they think is the best all around.
“I think consolidated stops and express strops and shuttle stops,” said Hefner.
“In a perfect world, I think we would come to some sort of compromise or agreement,” London said.
The decision currently lies with CMS Operations Staff.
However, a school board member had the bell schedule changes proposal added to next week’s school board meeting agenda.
Unless it’s pulled at the last minute, the board could vote whether to override whatever decision CMS staff makes.