As Rochester City Schools worked to solve their lack of bus drivers on Tuesday, the situation got worse.
Superintendent Dr. Lesli Myers-Small says nine more drivers resigned from Monroe Transportation, Ontario Bus Service and First Student. That leaves the district now more than 100 drivers short of being able to run its full schedule when school opens, now on Thursday. That leaves 36 routes uncovered. The district has 174 students with disabilities, who by law must be provided with bus service, that it cannot serve.
The district is still finalizing a deal with Regional Transit Service to carry students to five high schools on transit buses starting on September 13th. Until then, the 2,000 students at those schools must find their own way to school or go to online classes.
Superintendent Myers-Small says detailed plans to provide for the disabled students and as many others as possible are to be released Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the RGRTA Board of Commissioners approved a change in Regional Transit Service schedules to acommodate high school students going to-and-from school. Once finalized, the deal will provide transportation for about 3,500 students, but it means changes to existing RTS routes and some runs will take longer because of needing to serve the schools.