Transportation Department Prepared to Get Children to Schools

The bus routes are set, the schedules are done and the phone lines are open: Manatee County is ready to get its students to school.

"We are ready," said Dan Ross, Director of Vehicle Maintainance for the Manatee County School system "We got this."

That's no small feat. Last year the Manatee County School System struggled with its bus routes in the first few weeks of the year.

"We've heard everybody's aches and pains," Ross told the School Board Monday. "We've been through what went wrong last year. Your staff is before you to tell you there should be no surprises."

Ross said every route is drawn and that parents have a dedicated and tested phone line for their questions on bus stops, pick-up and drop off times and out-of-district transportation for school choice students.

In addition, the transportation department is sending out 11,000 postcards telling students where their bus stop is, said Sheryl Riker, assistant director of transportation. She said that families should get those postcards by Thursday.

Every school will have access to the transportation department's GPS signals and will have access to information on individual students' bus stops and routes to school.

"Schools will have total access,' Riker said. "We're trying to give them everything they need."

For the first time this year every school bus on every route will have air conditioning.  Students will also be allowed to use iPods, iPads and laptops  while traveling to school.