Hammond explained that it’s typical for some kids to get on the wrong bus or to be reported missing because they got off the bus and went to play rather than see their parents first. By 5:20 p.m., all the students had been accounted for, he added.
During the first year of a $15.1 million 5-year contract, Petermann Ltd. struggled on the first day of school a year ago. But that wasn’t the case this time around.
When most of the district’s routes were re-written and 130 school-of-choice students were added to the district just 36 hours before school was to start last year, some students found themselves stranded for three or more hours.
Hammond said there were no lengthy delays on Tuesday morning.
“Things have been going pretty good, so far,” Hammond said. “We’ll need to make a few minor adjustments to correct some timing issues, but that’s expected. And as always, safety is our main goal.”
School began at the Middletown elementary schools and for the high school’s freshmen on Tuesday.
Middletown’s sophomore, junior and senior high school students return to school today. Fenwick and Madison school districts will return to school today as well.
Petermann Ltd. handles busing for those districts as well, so today’s routes will be a little more hectic because of the added student load.
Hammond said there were some student pick-up times that will need to be adjusted, and he said that some buses weren’t quite meeting the bell times at their respective schools on Tuesday.
“We’re moving in the right direction,” he said. “It’s just a matter of doing some shuffling around and getting help from drivers when we need them.”
Petermann’s Middletown district has 51 drivers who run 45 routes. Hammond said there’s 57 buses available, including back-up buses, spares and special needs vehicles.
“The members of the school staff, I can’t thank them enough. They’ve been very helpful in getting this running as smoothly as possible for the first day,” Hammond said.
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