Sahuarita Unified School District issued the following announcement on Nov. 1.
School districts throughout the Nation are experiencing a severe school bus driver shortage. This national issue has hit home and is creating challenges for our own student transportation services. Despite the ongoing efforts to attract more drivers, the SUSD Transportation Department currently has only 68% of the drivers necessary to cover all routes, which equates to 20 current vacancies. Many of our neighboring school districts are experiencing a similar driver shortage.
Our priority is the safe and efficient transportation of students to and from school. With that goal in mind and the current availability of bus drivers, we are implementing a gradual, phased consolidation of bus stops known as Project R.O.A.R. (Route Optimization and Realignment). Project R.O.A.R. will utilize central locations, such as the neighborhood parks, to consolidate the number of bus stops for each bus route. The revisions will change bus stop locations, pick-up and drop-off times, and foreseeably the bus route numbers. However, these changes will result in fewer disruptions to the transportation schedule, shorter and more consistent wait times for students, and ensure students arrive on time to school each day.
Original source can be found here.
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