SUMMER 2009 EDITION
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Economy takes toll on school districts
FULTON — Bus driver Mary Shepherd can feel the effects of the recession.
“You don’t know if you’re going to have a job one day to the other,” Shepherd said.
Shepherd recently found out that because of budget issues at Fulton Public Schools, the route she has been driving since she was hired is about to change. She has worked as a bus driver for the school district for 18 years, longer than most of her riders have been alive.
“I like the kids on my route and I’m going to miss them, and now I have to go to a different route, relearn names and everything again,” she said.
School districts across the county are dealing with budget cuts, and Fulton is not immune to those problems. In January, the district cut nearly $1 million for staff, extracurricular expenses and transportation.
“A million dollars is a lot of money,” Fulton Superintendent Jacque Cowherd said. “It was tough, and the people here are still hurting over it.”
More than $87,000 was cut from the transportation department, including cutbacks on fuel and the loss of four drivers.
"We've cut a couple bus routes and consolidated some routes that increase ride time maybe 15 to 20 minutes,” said Cowherd, who started as superintendent on July 1. “We’ll get out of this (situation of) running buses that are two-thirds empty. It’s expensive, and the public understands that.”
Shepherd expects changes, most of which she says are negative. She thinks the children on her bus will become “more rowdy. You can’t keep control of them.”
Shepherd is also worried about the children’s safety.
“You’re supposed to be able to put three kids to a seat. Well, forget it,” she said. “You can’t. Maybe kindergartners, three little kids, but otherwise, you can get two kids to a seat.”
Bus drivers are not the only ones worried about the cuts. Jan Finke, who teaches summer school at Fulton High School, is concerned about the well-being of students.
“You are mixing the ages and they’re sitting more to a seat,” she said. “When you get more people on a bus, you’re going to have more distractions for the bus driver, and that would be a concern."
Cowherd said he knows this transition will be a rough ride but remains optimistic.
“After it gets rolling and we get down to the routine, kids seem to do well,” he said. “So when they get the routine down, they'll be fine.”
Finke, who taught at Fulton Public Schools for more than 30 years before retiring last year, sympathizes with Shepherd and other bus drivers who have had to change their routes, particularly because they have to say goodbye to children they have watched grow up.
“They’re your babies,” she said. “When you see them go all the way through like that, they are your babies for nine months out of the year.”
With so many cuts given to the district’s transportation department, Shepherd said she knows things will be different once the school year begins.
“I’m afraid driving these routes is going to make it bad,” she said. “I’m not happy about it.”