Lee County parents weigh in on new school bus routes

The big yellow school bus: many Lee County parents rely on it to get their children to and from school each day.

“We’re supposed to be able to trust that the bus is going to pick up our kids, you know and that the bus is going to get them home on time,” said Brandy Sutton, a Cape Coral mom.

She says it’s reliable alright, in that she can always count on it to never do its job on time.

“It’s to the point where we have had to rearrange how we do our mornings because I can’t leave for work and not know if my children are going to make it to school or not,” said Sutton.

With the upcoming school year set to kick off soon, Sutton wants to see more consistency.

“They need to show up every day like they’re supposed to, but also show up in a timely manner,” said Sutton, “You know, I can understand, five or 10 minutes late, that’s understandable. But 30-45 minutes when it’s raining out or when it’s 90 degrees outside, like, that’s torture to these kids.”

And the school district of Lee County says it’s working on it.

“We’re 90% arrivals on time in the morning last year, but we averaged about 72% in the afternoon,” said Rob Spicker with Lee County Schools.

The plan? Shortening the distance and amount of time students spend on busses.

Last year’s focus was elementary school. This year it’s middle school.

“Because we have the middle school proximity, we know that there will be a need for less routes and less drivers overall. And that will help us hopefully with our efficiency,” said Spicker.

The Lee County School Board is set to approve bus routes for 2024-2025 Tuesday night.

Middle school routes are going through a wholesale change, while elementary and high school routes will change depending on how this year’s riders compare to last year.

“If we can continue to improve by having greater efficiencies in our routes, we do anticipate that our on-time arrival times in the morning and the afternoon can improve,” said Spicker.