Traditional Calendar Schools Kick Off Monday Morning
August 21, 2008 - With all schools in Wake County back in full operation on Monday, August 25, there will be an increase of traffic around schools, more students at school bus stops and changing traffic patterns with the opening of new schools.
 Don Haydon, WCPSS Chief of Operations, talks with reporters about school bus safety with the opening of schools August 25. |
Listen to Don Haydon talk 5 minute mp3 file |
Don Haydon, WCPSS Chief of Operations, encouraged motorists to keep a watchful eye out for students at bus stops and crosswalks.
“Safety is our primary concern,” said Haydon. “With about 140,000 students in school as of August 25, we will have all our school buses on the road picking up students from 6 – 9 a.m. to get them to our high schools, middle schools and elementary schools. We ask motorists to be alert to students and buses making their way between home and school.”
Nearly 70,000 students are expected to take the bus to school this year. 875 school buses and thousands of cars will be on the road taking students to school. Students, parents, teachers, administrators, WCPSS Transportation personnel and the motoring public all play important roles in keeping Wake County's students safe while on or around schools and school buses.
There will be changing traffic patterns with Smith Elementary School moving to the Banks Road campus at 10225 Chambers Road in Raleigh. Root Elementary will open in a temporary modular campus at North Hills, while the Root campus undergoes renovation.
Haydon called on the school system’s bus drivers to safely deliver children to schools and to their homes.
“Our school bus drivers are expected to be more than drivers,” said Haydon. “Parents want to make sure their children are delivered to school in the morning and home in the afternoon. Our community has high expectations and we need our drivers to be up to the task.”
Haydon said WCPSS will need 20 additional bus drivers for the start of the school year.
“In a transportation system with nearly 900 drivers, this is a small number that we will be able to address with substitute drivers or Transportation managers filling in,” said Haydon. “We continue to look for candidates for bus drivers who make children’s safety a priority and have a safe driving record.”
Qualifications for bus driver candidates include:
- Must be 18 years old.
- Must possess a valid NC driver’s license.
- Must have had a valid driver’s license for a minimum of one year.
- With 2-4 years total driving experience: no more than one ticket or at-fault accident during that period.
- With 5-9 years driving experience: no more that two tickets or two at-fault accidents during that period.
- With 10 or more years experience: no more that two tickets and one at-fault accident or two at-fault accidents and one ticket during that time period.
- No convictions of DWI in the last 10 years. No more than one conviction ever.
- No conviction of reckless driving ever.
- No speeding ticket greater than 14 mph over the posted limit within the last year.
- No conviction for passing a school bus in the process of making a passenger stop.
- No suspension of driving privileges in the last 10 years due to a moving violation (a suspension for failure to appear does not count).
- Any prospective driver who has had a license in another state within the last ten years must provide a driving record from that state as well as possess a valid NC driver’s license.
- Take class and pass examinations administered by DMV and receive CDL with "S" and "P" endorsements.
More information and applications for employment can be obtained at http://www.wcpss.net/transportation/qualifications.html. Candidates should fill out the application for non-certified positions.
Bus driver candidates who submit applications by mid-August and meet WCPSS screening criteria can be scheduled into state training classes to be held in mid-September. New drivers undergo three days of classroom training and three days of behind-the-wheel training in order to receive initial certification for a Commercial Driver's License with the endorsements required to drive a school bus and transport passengers.
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