- Tumwater School District
- Rotating Routes
Transportation
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Rotating Routes to Provide a Predictable Solution
Due to the continued nation-wide work shortage, our bus routes are impacted almost daily. As a result and to avoid cancelling routes, some of our routes are "double run" (which means a driver drives their normal route, then runs a different route that does not have a driver for the day).
A rotating schedule has been created to balance the impact of the driver shortage on schools. While we understand that this is inconvenient for families, we are also finding ways to get all students to school each day rather than cancel routes when there is no driver. We will use a weekly rotation that allows for the following:
- Routes serving two elementary schools and their accompanying middle/high school routes will be prioritized to drive on-time during the week.
- Routes serving two elementary schools and their accompanying middle/high school routes will be on-time unless there is an absent driver whose route cannot be filled.
- Routes serving the final two elementary schools and their accompanying middle/high school routes will run 1 hour late for elementary riders and 2 hours late for middle/high school riders, unless sufficient drivers are available to serve the routes on time.
- The impacted schools/routes will rotate each week, balancing the impact on schools and allowing families and schools to plan ahead for the potential impact.
On Friday evening, families that are on the rotation to ‘be late’ for the following week will receive an automated phone call from the Transportation Department letting them know that the following week they should prepare for late pickups/dropoffs for the week, if necessary. Families that are on a possible late route schedule will receive a call by 6:15 am each school day morning ONLY IF your bus will be late. If you receive no communication by 6:15 am, plan on regular pickup time. Transportation will use ROUTE NUMBERS, so please make sure that you are familiar with your child’s general education route number. Find bus route numbers here. Special Education routes will not be affected by this plan. If you receive a call that your bus will be late for rotating routes, have your elementary student at the bus stop approximately 1 hour later than normal, and middle/high school students at the bus stop approximately 2 hours later than normal for the week.
Below is the schedule:
