On Thursday, April 20, the Board of Education voted to save money for the district and cut back on the amount of school buses and routes starting at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year, due to the short supply of drivers. At the board meeting, Superintendent Kenneth Roumpos had presented ‘Transportation Recommendations’ and had primarily discussed that times and areas of bus stops may change, including to stop bussing for students in grades 6-12 who are within a one mile radius of school.

“When we have all those absences, it means different drivers each day, which causes buses to be late, ” Roumpos said. “It impacts students’ interactions with the drivers when the parents and students get to know a driver, encounter that person being there each day. That also supports good behavior on the bus, those relationships, all that have been affected.”

Principal Jeffery Fletcher spoke on how this issue would impact FHN specifically.

“They’re consolidating stops to make sure that they can pick up more kids within that hour time frame, which to me makes sense,” Fletcher said. “Around 200 people live within one mile radius of school, and therefore would be forced to walk instead of taking the bus. Efficiency and safety is the board’s main discussion on the bus cuts.”