By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Public school students all over Beaufort County returned to school bright and early on Monday, August 21.
Families are still enrolling students, but the anticipated enrollment for the school year is 21,500 according to Beaufort County School District spokesperson Candace Bruder.
“We look forward to a promising year for our students, full of growth and student successes,” Bruder said.
As the new school year begins, Bruder said that she recommends that all parents review and update their child’s emergency contacts to make sure that the information that the school district has is up-to-date so that they can respond effectively in case of any unforeseen circumstances, especially in light of the fact that in the past year Beaufort High School has had a false active shooter situation reported and more recently received a bomb threat.
“The district continuously refines our safety measures,” Bruder said.
Beaufort County citizens are also asked to be aware and slow down as they come across bus stops and buses on the road.
You may not pass a bus that is traveling in your same direction that is stopped and picking up students with the sign engaged to protect the students who are getting onto and off the bus.
As for bus drivers, Bruder said that the bus driver numbers this year are better than they were last year, and they have hired seven new drivers for the start of the year.
“We have enough drivers to cover all of our routes, but we still have some covering double routes and could use more drivers so that our operations can function smoothly and effectively,” said Bruder.
During the last two years the pay rate for bus drivers in Beaufort County has gone up as well, Bruder said.
Delayna Earley lives in Beaufort with her husband, two children and Jack Russell. She formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She joined The Island News in 2022. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
