Taking our jobs seriously
To the editor:
This is in response to a letter to the editor by Mr. Don Tardie appearing in the Star-Herald on Nov. 2. I have been a bus driver in SAD 1 for over 30 years.
I and 60-plus bus drivers that work for SAD 1 want to express that we take our jobs extremely seriously and do everything in our power to make sure that no errors occur in the process of safely getting students to and from school each day. We realize that even one mistake is one too many.
SAD 1’s transportation service is the second largest in the state. It is a complicated transportation system that covers 2,700 miles per day, 479,000 miles per year, with approximately 2,500 separate stops each day to pick up and deliver children throughout the District. In addition to these basic stops we handle more than 150 last-minute changes that come in each day where parents want children dropped at different locations than their scheduled locations.
Many of the larger school districts throughout the state deliver each child to only their home, or one alternative site. That is a much easier system to administer in terms of possibilities for error. In SAD 1, as a convenience to all parents, we deliver children to literally wherever their parents want them to be dropped off and there are hundreds of alternate drop-offs each day throughout the system. This is a convenience for parents but it is a huge challenge for the school system to get everyone everywhere they want to be whether it be their home, friend’s homes or their babysitter’s. We know we are expected to get them there 100 percent of the time without error.
And if the system weren’t complex enough on its own, add in to this mix a number of substitute bus drivers who are called upon each day to deal with routes and children that they aren’t as familiar with as regular drivers.
The bottom line is that we can assure Mr. Tardie as well as all SAD 1 parents that SAD 1’s transportation system is second to none, that our percentage for successful drop-off and delivery is 99.9 percent and that we are striving every day to make it 100 percent.
Your patience, support and understanding is appreciated.
Andrea Bard Smith
Mapleton
