First day of school challenges for Lee County Schools

The first day of school is always a rush of excitement for parents, teachers and, most importantly, kids!

WINK News reporter Annalise Iraola spoke with the spokesperson for Lee County Public Schools, who said not every bus was on time and some kids might have been late; overall, today was a great first day, and there is always room for improvement.

“From all I see, everything is just excitement and just a thrill to be back,” said Rob Spicker, assistant director of media relations and public information for Lee County Schools.

WINK News spoke with Spicker about what went right on Monday.

“So many kids having smiles on their faces, so much excitement by the teachers to welcome them back, so that went really right, just that welcoming family attitude with smiles on their face,” said Spicker.

With over 90,000 kids in Lee County schools, bus transportation is a big issue for the district, and the first day was no exception.

“What I can tell you from our transportation department is that this was a very normal first day of school, and that means that some buses ran late and that some students were late, and a lot of that has to do with the first week of school,” said Spicker.

There were late buses and long pickup lines, but Spicker said each school’s got a plan for improvements.

“Our transportation department will look at everything that happened today so that they can be a little bit better tomorrow,” said Spicker. “I think that may be the number one thing, is that schools are going to analyze how their drop off and pick up procedures worked and make refinements on them each day over the coming probably two weeks so that they can get it down to really the best that it can be.”

WINK News is your back-to-school central. We will be following transportation issues the first week and well into the school year, and we’ll be sure to keep you up to date and informed as the school year continues.