BONNEY LAKE, Wash. — The start of a new school year comes with adjustments, but students in Bonney Lake are now trying to figure out how they’ll even get to school.
The Sumner-Bonney Lake School District said it’s grappling with a "severe" bus driver shortage. The district emailed families to warn about bus route changes.
The driver shortage means students may come home on a different bus they left on, experience changing pick-up and drop-off times, or may not even get picked up at all. Some families are scrambling to figure out how to get their child to school without a bus.
Paige Bartlemay, who’s starting class soon at Sumner High School, said she’ll try to wait for the bus, but is concerned about how this set-up is going to affect her performance.
“We think the bus is going to be coming at 6:15, but we’re not sure, so I’ll probably have to be waking up at like, five in the morning, which is pretty early,” Bartlemay said. “I probably won’t get that much sleep, having to wake up earlier, so I’ll definitely be tired in the morning, but hopefully I’ll be able to get to school, and on time.”
Parents like Avery Gleaton are worried about the ripple effect this will have.
“Say if the bus was already supposed to come and I was already supposed to be at work, how do I tell my job, 'Hey, my kids aren’t going to be able to get on the bus to get to school, and now I might be an extra hour or two late to work because of this,'” said Gleaton.
The district is advising parents to go to its website for a link that will show their child’s bus route for the school year and how much it’ll be affected by these shortages. The district's advice is to check it regularly because the information could always change.