WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Growth in Wilson County is impacting traffic, as well as students' ability to arrive on time. Now, school leaders are considering changing start times, but they want to hear from all students, parents, teachers, and bus drivers before making that decision.

Over a month into the new school year, parents continue to express frustration over bus route issues in Wilson County.

“I understand the frustration, I want to make it better for everybody, there's just technical issues that are just hard to get over,” Beth Meyers, a Wilson County School Board member, said.

This week, Wilson County Director of Schools Jeff Luttrell said there have been major improvements to the transportation woes, but there are still 8.5 openings. This news comes after the district saw an increase of 400 more students this school year.

“Then we add another 400 kids in that same mix and it just compounds, and so other school districts are having this issue, but other school districts are not growing as rapidly as we are,” said Jamie Farough, another school board member.

Administrators, teachers, and even parents have been stepping up to get behind the wheel.

“I started driving a bus because I was not getting to spend time with my kids...and now I get to be with them all the time," Ashleigh Boldin, a Wilson County parent and bus driver, said.  

According to Boldin, she is maxed out on kids and maxed out on time during her routes. 

“I assure you, I have looked at it all, and I think the solution is more drivers, keep hiring, keep building that staff to where we can get all of our coverage that we need,” Luttrell said. 

One solution Luttrell offered is surveying everyone on a three-start school time across the district. Boldin said she would support of driving three routes in the morning and afternoon.

“We would be getting to the school on time instead of 45 minutes late every day,” Boldin said.

She said the district changed to two-start times a few years ago, which helped, but as Wilson County Schools continues to grow, this may be the next solution.

“That's what we do. We get kids to and from school, and I think we need to try to do whatever we can to make that happen,” Boldin said.

Luttrell said he plans to have questions for that survey at the next school board meeting. If there is support for the plan, the changes probably won't start until the 2026-2027 school year, according to the director.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/wilson-county-schools-looking-at-potential-change-in-start-times-for-students/