The Liberty County School System welcomed 10,524 students during the first week of school.
The 2023-24 school year began August 2, with more than 100 new teachers on staff.
“It’s been a wonderful start to the school year,” said Kellie Zeigler, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning.
More than 9,000 parents attended the open houses the night before school began, and school faculties attended a convocation in two sessions.
“Convocation was enthusiastic,” Zeigler said. “Open house was fantastic.”
School system officials said they are trying to handle the complaints on the staggered bus schedule. There are 73 bus drivers in the system with another five in training. Bus driver attendance for the first week has averaged 94%, according to the system.
The school system said the number of buses running on time increased from the first day. The number of buses on time for the first day was 80% and reached 84% by Friday. By Tuesday, the number was 94%.
“Our bus drivers are doing a tremendous job and we cannot thank them enough,” said Deputy Superintendent Dr. Zheadric Barbra. “With any change, there are some growing pains. We understand we are not perfect.”
Dr. Barbra said the system will continue to evaluate the new bus schedule, which has elementary schools starting at 7:30 a.m., high schools at 8:25 a.m. and middle schools at 8:45 a.m.
Some parents complained to school board members at their meeting Tuesday about the new staggered bus schedules. One parent said the buses have come either too early or too late. He also said his 4-year-old child was placed on the wrong bus and he did not know where she was for 40 minutes. He said finally he tracked down the bus his child was on and told board members he got little to no cooperation from the schools.
“We want our children to get to school on time and safely,” board Chair Verdell Jones said. “We are glad to see the numbers getting better. I know we have some concerns and we are going to be working on those immediately.”
Some schools also had problems with air conditioning systems in portions of those schools, but not throughout the entire school. The school system is working to correct those problems, system officials said.
