The Carroll County School Board is in dire need of bus drivers and have taken exceptional measures to ensure their children get to school safely.
During employee recommendations, Superintendent Billy Joe Ferguson recommended Tiffany Amos, who works as an assistant teacher, also receive pay as a transporter.
Ferguson said Amos lives in a portion of the county where the current bus route is overloaded. He said Amos would use an Excursion, which is a Carrol County School District’s vehicle to take the children to and from school.
“It’s only temporary until we can get another bus driver,” Ferguson said, adding that Amos is also trying for her commercial driving license and when she gains the license, she will then run her own bus route.
“The Cobbins brothers (Dewitt and Faye) are both running routes, and there is no one at the bus shop now. So, if something happens to a bus, the kids have to sit there until someone can come help after they run their routes,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson said if they find someone to run a route, it’s hard to keep them and they’re looking for drivers, but until they can find one, this is the temporary solution.
“Is this legal?” Board member Donnie Wiltshire asked Board attorney Lori Bell. Bell said she would look into it. Ferguson said a while back, schools had vehicles that were painted yellow for the very same thing. He said when he looked it up, he didn’t find anything that said it wasn’t legal.
“It’s a school vehicle, it’s insured and it’s in good running condition. It’s a older vehicle but it’s still in good running condition,” Ferguson said.
Board member William Downs made the motion to accept the recommendation contingent upon Amos getting her CDL.
Also, the board approved Ferguson’s recommendation to hire Mable Partlow as a part-time bus driver. Partlow is retired and could only work six hours.
