Email
Print
A few glitches show up for schools' opening bell
Photo by Bruce Matlock
Nate Nodal waits with his mother, Jennifer, to pick up his sister at Cloverleaf School on Wednesday.
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: August 27, 2009
With an estimated 21,321 students enrolled in Iredell-Statesville Schools, a few glitches were expected during the first few days of the school year.
Adding to the typical first-day wrinkles, a manhunt in the Valley Stream neighborhood delayed the opening of Pressly Alternative School and Statesville Middle School.
Interim Superintendent Brady Johnson said the ConnectEd system used to notify parents of the situation didn't work as well as it should have.
"We're supposed to be able to target groups of schools, but couldn't get that feature to work yesterday (Tuesday)," he said.
Instead of families living in the Pressly and SMS zones being notified of the school time change, a call went out to all homes listed in the district's ConnectEd system.
Some families didn't receive a call at all because they had switched phone providers and failed to notify the district of a new phone number.
Other districtwide concerns include bus routes, walk zones and abbreviated bus routes, but Johnson stressed that the changes in busing were due to budget cuts.
Parents are unhappy with the walk zones and the longer distances students have to walk to their bus stops.
Johnson said he understands those concerns.
"It is taking services away from people, so it is difficult," he said.
Other hiccups included a few buses arriving to school late and some children getting on the wrong bus.
The latest a student who rode a bus got home Tuesday was 5:15 p.m., according to Interim Deputy Superintendent of Transportation Ron Hargrave.
"Overall, it went pretty good," he said.
According to Hargrave, I-SS had 204 buses on the road and transported 15,000 children.
For Cloverleaf, the new math, science and technology magnet school, dealing with 891 students hasn't been nearly as hectic as finding an alternative solution to traffic woes.
For car-riders, the morning and afternoon drop-offs and pick-ups took longer than expected.
"We got a plan in place, but the plan didn't work 100 percent like I liked it to," Principal Wayne Harwell said. "It's hard to get 500 cars in a driveway in a short amount of time."
Using a revised plan, Harwell said Cloverleaf should be able to cut eight minutes off the morning drop-offs.
Instead of dropping students off at the front door, the line will extend to the curb, so twice as many car doors can open at a time.
In the afternoons, students riding the bus will be dismissed earlier so car riders can gather in the cafeteria earlier.
The traffic pattern outside the school may have been less than desirable, but things inside seem to have gone well.
"For a brand new school nobody has ever seen, kids have done a wonderful job," Harwell said.
Things went off without a hitch at Mt. Mourne International Baccalaureate Candidate School, according to Principal Jason Van Heukelum.
The school met capacity with 420 students and operations went smoothly.
"Kids and parents had a great day," he said. "Couldn't have asked for anything more."
Email
Print
