By Rebecca Gaunt
Parents and transportation staff are questioning the safety of the district’s buses, even as the Cobb County School District recognizes National Bus Safety Week.
Parents are also asking for the results of an investigation that Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said he launched after about two-thirds of the fleet maintenance crew showed up to the April meeting in uniform. The employees shared concerns about staffing shortages and bad equipment, which had been ignored by the chain of command previously.
Oct. 20-24 is National Bus Safety Week and Bus Driver Appreciation Week.
The district recognized transportation department leadership, including senior executive director Mike Quick, at Thursday’s school board meeting.
According to Sherri Hill, the school district’s chief of staff, Cobb’s fleet is the second largest in Georgia. It serves about 65,000 students with over 1,027 buses.
Ragsdale has since deemed the buses safe, but has not shared the results of the investigation thus far.
Members of the maintenance crew have continued to attend the school board meetings, though they haven’t taken to the podium for public comment again.
In June, a public commenter called out the district for not providing bathrooms for the bus drivers. The district later announced that it adjusted its policy to allow drivers to access the schools they serve.
On Thursday, Robert Evans, a soon-to-be-retired CCSD bus driver, spoke on behalf of drivers he said are afraid of losing their jobs.
He said over a third of the bus fleet is over 20 years old, and he only just received an air-conditioned bus this year.
“It’s not about the drivers. It’s more about the students. It was 84 degrees today, very hot inside the bus, almost 100 degrees,” he said.
Evans also said some of the new buses are broken from the start and that other drivers are driving faulty buses they are afraid to take in because they’ll lose their air-conditioned vehicle.
Laura Judge, a Cobb parent and former candidate for school board Post 5, urged the district to release the findings of the investigation during her public comment at the work session.
“What’s being done to make sure our buses are safe before they hit the road each morning?” she said. “If we can’t guarantee basic transportation safety, we are failing our families before the first bell even rings.”
The district has declined to provide comment for the Courier since 2021.
Rebecca Gaunt earned a degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and a master’s degree in education from Oglethorpe University. After teaching elementary school for several years, she returned to writing. She lives in Marietta with her husband, son, two cats, and a dog. In her spare time, she loves to read, binge Netflix and travel.
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