00:00MCCSC is changing school start times for the next academic year to accommodate a shortage of bus drivers.
00:07As Holden Absher reports, the school district is also raising bus driver-based pay $2 per hour.
00:15Monroe County Community School Corporation trustees voted Tuesday to change school start times for the upcoming school year.
00:22High schools will now start at 7.45 a.m., which is 15 minutes earlier than the current time.
00:27Middle schools will start 10 minutes later at 8.10 a.m., and elementary schools will be staggered, with 6 beginning at 9 a.m. and 8 being pushed back to 9.30.
00:37The more tiers you add to your schedule, the more start times you add to your schedule, the less drivers that are needed,
00:43and the more kind of efficient and kind of like packaged your routes can be.
00:47MCCSC currently has about 80 drivers, but needed 140 to be fully staffed under the old start times.
00:54The shortage resulted in drivers running multiple routes in a single day.
00:58The new start times, however, will eliminate 38 routes.
01:03For further assistance, the district is also raising school bus driver pay.
01:08But the administration says pay is not the only issue facing the Transportation Department.
01:13They compared the bus system to a dead plant in a corner.
01:16Throwing water on it isn't going to help it grow any faster.
01:19It's got to get back to the light, too.
01:20To alleviate pressure the new schedules might have on disproportionately affected families,
01:25the school district is planning to offer extended day programs free of charge to families on free and reduced lunch.
01:31For Indiana News Desk, I'm Holden Apshur.
