SPECIAL REPORT: Tips for Parents and Children at Bus Stops
As kids return to school, here's some good advice from the districts about waiting for the bus.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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Tomorrow morning, schools in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, and Stafford are all scheduled to be in class. Each is running on a two-hour delay.
Stafford County Public Schools returned today, so the Advance reached out to Sandra Osborn, the district’s chief communications officer, to see what advice she had based on the district’s experiences today.
Osborn’s first point was to “make sure kids are dressed appropriately (hat, gloves, coats).” While it’s warming, temperatures are projected to be hoovering around freezing when buses are out and about tomorrow morning.
A second piece of advice is to ensure that children know where their bus is. In Stafford, children and parents can monitor an app that informs them where their buses are stopping and any changes to bus numbers.
Fredericksburg City Schools also has an app that students and their families should monitor. Spotsylvania has an app for students and families, however, District Chief of Communications & Community Engagement Rene Daniels told the Advance that only about 50% of parents have opted in to using it. Those people with the app will be alerted to any bus situations via the app. However, the school system will send out notifications via text and email to all students and families with any necessary bus information. So families should have their phones on them in the morning and be monitoring that information.
Osborn also asked that students and families please be patient. “We’re all doing our best,” she said, as is VDOT.
Safety is front of mind for all the school districts. Matt Eberhardt, deputy superintendent of Fredericksburg City Schools, said that “I just want people to be safe. Drivers will be slowing down, and people need to stand in a safe place waiting for the buses.”
Daniels said that the district is asking “parents and guardians to stay with students at bus stops until the bus arrives.”
It’s all solid advice for students and families as schools work to get back to school normal in the wake of one of the more-challenging winter storms over the past three decades.
This story has been updated with new information about the app used by Spotsylvania County Public Schools for monitoring school buses. (February 3, 8:45 pm)
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Spotsy does have a bus app - Here Comes the Bus. It has been in place for a good while now. We use it every school day.