One by one, big yellow school buses pulled out of the FCPS bus barn and headed out to canvas the city.
“I came in and actually did a route and to see what it's actually like behind the wheel on the bus.”
Joseph Haskins has been a school bus driver for nearly four decades. He went out on his route Tuesday and again today and gave this assessment.
“Certain neighborhoods are better than others,” Haskins said. “It's mainly just the ice that's given us a lot of problems getting it cleared out for the buses to get through.”
We asked Haskins if he would be comfortable driving if the district decides to pivot to in-person learning on Thursday.
“It really depends on the side roads and the safety for the kids. That's the main thing. And then we have a lot of drivers as well that this is new for them as well to be on a big piece of equipment moving around the city, and we have got to look at their safety as well,” Haskins said. “We want to make sure that everybody's safe. We do not want to have an accident. We do not want a kid to slide and fall underneath of a bus wheel or anything. So, it's a real big picture, and at 5:45, 6 o'clock in the morning, it's still dark. And we really want to make sure that the kids are safe.”
Haskins said bus drivers spent the day running their routes and communicating with dispatch, who then contacted the city to report trouble spots.