Jump in students slams bus routes

A whopping increase of 650 additional students since the first day of school is putting pressure on the Barrow County School System, affecting everything from school finances to bus routes. Overall, the system gained 213 additional students from 2009 with a current total of 12,810 in the system.

Superintendent Wanda Creel told the Barrow County Board of Education Tuesday that as of “the 20th day count” (a traditional time to tally students at the beginning of a new school year), there are 650 more students enrolled in Barrow County than were reported on the first day of school. This increase has resulted in a “tremendous amount of difference in bus routes” and, she told the board, the transportation department is “working feverishly” to increase drivers and busses in order to meet current needs.

“We will continue this process until we get stabilized,” Creel said, which she projected will be “around the end of September.”

In the meantime, parents are being notified of route changes in letters, which are “going out as routes are adjusted,” she said.

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#1 Anonymous on 09/03/10 at 06:05 AM [Reply]

"“working feverishly” to increase drivers and busses in order to meet current needs."

Wait - didn't the school board LAYOFF bus drivers and consolidate routes?

Just goes to show ......

#2 Annie Omus on 09/03/10 at 10:22 AM [Reply]

Wasn't it somebodys big idea to think of the future of Barrow County as a "bedroom" community with low income small housing to help the builders defray their costs?
"Stevens also called for an investigation into “where all these students are moving (to Barrow County) from?”

" People work in Jackson or Gwinnett County and they live here, because they can do it cheaply… We educate their kids while their county gets the tax benefit of business growth.”

#2.1 Red Ryder on 09/03/10 at 03:48 PM [Reply]

Maybe that was your idea. But nobody else in their right mind with any foresight would think that.

Nobody thinks of a bedroom community as a good idea without either a.)an industrial base to absorb the tax base; or b.) high taxes to cover that which industry does not (i.e. Oconee).

#3 Anonymous on 09/04/10 at 06:19 AM [Reply]

District 4 BOE member Larry Ballard and District 5 member Lynn Stevens said, “We can’t tax our way out of that.”

I do believe there was an viable option or two mentioned by challengers during the election. BOE try to think back and remember what a couple of your challengers were saying.

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Jump in students slams bus routes

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Jump in students slams bus routes

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