New Bus Drivers and Fewer Double Runs: Transportation Improvements Noted at Fredericksburg School Board Meeting
Also, Ward 3 representative Jennifer Boyd announces resignation; board to appoint someone to fill the vacancy for the rest of the year.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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Fredericksburg City Public Schools has hired two new bus drivers and “several” others are in training, according to a transportation update provided Monday evening to the School Board.
A bus driver shortage is a major contributing factor to the transportation delays that have plagued the opening of the 2025-26 school year.
One parent, Nicole Warnick, said during public comments at Monday’s meeting that the “ongoing bus issues” have “wreaked havoc” on her entire household, creating anxiety for her children and causing her to have to miss work on three occasions.
“This year has been worse than COVID,” Warnick said. “I think we should have planned better. We didn’t think this through.”
Don Upperco, the division’s director of operations, said that in addition to the two new bus drivers, there are two staff members with commercial driver’s licenses who are awaiting endorsement. The division has received 14 applications for bus driver positions and has scheduled five interviews, he said.
The additional drivers plus “route efficiencies” implemented over the past week have reduced the number of double bus runs from nine to four, Upperco said. One Gladys West Elementary bus still has to perform a double run, but these have been eliminated at the other two elementary schools.
Most bus runs now are completed within an hour and afternoon “all clear” times—when all students have been delivered home—are “generally trending in a positive direction,” Upperco said.
However, these times are still later than last year, and Upperco noted that there continue to be “outlier” buses that will take longer.
At a special meeting last week to discuss the transportation problems, Upperco said the division was looking into whether changing the schedule at any or all of the five schools would help. On Monday, he said that a “time shift schedule” with later starts for the elementary schools would eliminate the need for double bus runs, but would also come with “unintended consequences,” such as the need to provide before-school care.
“We decided not to go in that direction,” Upperco said. “But we may need to revisit that at some point. Our #1 goal right now is to hire the drivers we need to make what we have work more efficiently.”
In addition to transportation, the board also spent time discussing the process for filling the vacancy left by Ward 3 representative Jennifer Boyd, who resigned from her School Board position effective on Monday due to no longer living full-time in Fredericksburg.
The board will appoint a representative to fill Boyd’s seat through the end of this year. Qualified voters of Ward 3 who are interested in being considered can submit a resume and letter of interest to School Board Clerk Brina Settles by Monday, September 15.
All application materials will be made available to the public on the school division’s website by Tuesday, September 16, Chair Matt Rowe said. There will be an opportunity for the public to provide input and for the board to discuss the applications at a special meeting on Monday, September 22.
“As part of an effort to ensure transparency, all discussion will occur in open session,” Rowe said.
The board will vote on an applicant to fill the vacancy at the next regular meeting on October 6. The person selected will take the seat that evening.
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