re: School buses picking kids up at 830?

Could be a late bus.

School districts all over the country have a shortage of bus drivers. Down in da parish, that pretty much have exactly the same number of drivers as busses, so if a couple of drivers call in sick, there are not enough drivers to go around.

The drivers then have to extend their route, pick up additional kids, run part of a second route after their first route, etc. They call this a "split bus".

I would say we have a split bus picking up the kids at least 2-3 times a month. When this happens, the bus is usually at least 20-30 minutes late, and often comes from a different direction. The bus ride home, I would say there is a split bus at least once a week. I guess they have more problems with after-school bus drivers than before.