Mid-Prairie School Board met August 28 at Mid-Prairie Middle School. Photo by Sam McIntosh.

Mid-Prairie Schools have been in session for a week, and students, families, and administrators have been getting familiar with new bus routes and additional bus drivers.

At Monday’s school board meeting Superintendent Mark Schneider said given the number of changes going into effect, the school year has begun well, “There were some issues that came up and there were even some issues that still came up after school tonight. But I was talking to a bus driver just today and I said, ‘How does this year compare to any other year?’ And this same bus driver has been here for awhile and he said, ‘You know it’s really no more different than a typical year.’ From his perspective he was saying there was no more difficulty than there has been in the past.”

Eleven of the 13 busses stop at every attendance center, and Mid-Prairie West Elementary Principal Bill Poock comments on how that affects administration, “Last year we had five busses, that was it, and now we have 12 and so it was easy last year to know who had been here and who hadn’t but when you have 12 busses that’s kind of hard to remember. So the first two days it was like, ‘Has red bus even been here?’ You just forget.”

SPED Associate Jacob Lampe created a visual hanging outside the West Elementary office to help organize which busses have arrived and assist staff in knowing which busses to call. The district also gave all elementary and fifth grade students colored tags to place on their backpacks to correspond with the bus they are assigned.