Letter to the Editor

School Buses No Longer the Sacred Cow

Dear Editor:

By and large, students are not riding the buses to school anymore! I see buses at the three public schools in Kaplan drop or pick up few if any students and then run their routes almost empty. What is in plain view is the mile long line of parent cars at each school to pick up and drop off their children.
Times have changed since I was in school when most of the students rode the school bus. Undoubtedly the cost of maintaining and paying the gas to run 137 school buses in this parish is quite enormous. Having to pay 108 full time bus drivers and other transportation personnel is a huge chunk of change as well! A lot of this is tax payer funded money! The Vermilion Parish School Board in a front page article in The Abbeville Meridional on Thursday, April 20, 2023 addressed the issue of looking to save school bus transportation money. The superintendent Tommy Byler clearly stated in that article “Efficiency of routes is my number one vision!”
My suggestion to the school board is this:

1.) Consolidate the routes for efficiency!

2.) Ascertain before the school year begins in writ ten, signed from each parent a guarantee that they want and will commit their child to riding a school bus at least 50% of the school year - then plan your routes accordingly.

If the school board addresses those points head-on and makes the hard changes necessary, they may find more funds available to give teachers and support personnel a more adequate pay raise.

Sincerely,
Stan Hardee
Kaplan