DAVIE, FLA. (WSVN) - The first day of school for Broward County students is Monday and the bus drivers are already gearing up for the big day.
Drivers across Broward gathered at a bus depot in Davie to test-run the bus routes they will be driving this year.
One of those bus drivers, Magnus Meekins, turned on his bus engine for his 4259 route. He said his bus was ready to go.
“I’m a school bus operator and I’m entering my third year right now. I like it. It’s a good job,” said Meekins.
Meekins said this is the first year he’s had a summer off in his professional year but that it was a much-needed break.
But as school begins, he said he enjoys being back in his yellow office: the school bus.
“I’m kinda eager to go back to work ’cause it’s fun. The kids, you know, they say sometimes the kids could be crazy, but I’m having a good time,” said Meekins.
County bus drivers, like Meekins, held their dry run and additional training on Thursday to go over the procedures and to get familiar with their stops.
“Today we had our additional training day and dry run, which is also tomorrow. So the additional training day is a day, an opportunity, to go over procedures and policies and also to come in and see where their stops are going to be for the upcoming school year,” said Broward Schools Transportation Director Dr. Simone Clowers.
The county said they have 1,200 buses that complete over 700 routes. This school year, they also have 60 electric school buses.
Officials want parents to talk to their children about knowing where the bus stop is for a smooth pick-up.
“So one of the concerns is they don’t necessarily know where the bus stop is, so we advise them to go when they get the schedule, they get the information, to go out to the stop a couple of days earlier and see where the bus location is,” said Clowers.
Officials mentioned that students registered for bus service should already have the bus stop information.
“Drivers are told to give the parents a minute or two to get to the bus stop. But we recommend all parents be at the stop 10 minutes before the bus time. We recommend that they are with their child at the stop for safety and security reasons so they can know where the child is and the child can be secure. We also recommend that they are on the sidewalk, not on the road,” said Clowers.
Registration for bus service is still open.
Clowers said parents can attend a Saturday session for any routing concerns.
The county is also hosting a job fair on Saturday as they have 80 bus driver vacancies.
But they want parents to know that all routes will be staffed and fulfilled.
“We’ve been preparing all week and getting ready for our babies to report back to school,” said Clowers.
For more information on registering for bus service and the job fair, click here.
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