During the early morning hours on Friday, January 7, school officials at Sedalia 200 announced an unexpected school closure due to bus driver shortage.

Following the announcement, Superintendent Steve Triplett issued a statement saying, “This morning, 13 drivers called out with illnesses ranging from COVID-19 to bronchitis to influenza – that is 45 percent of the driving team. Our contingencies were not designed to accommodate that many absences.”

According to a news release, throughout the weekend, Sedalia School District 200 worked with First Student Bus to create an emergency bus route plan.

Triplett says, “DESE requires districts to provide bus transportation to and from school for all students who reside 3.5 miles or more from the school in their attendance area; Sedalia 200 provides bus routes for students who live one mile or more from the school in their attendance area. Our emergency solution will provide bus service for students who live 2 miles or more from the school in their attendance area; bus stops also will be consolidated in this plan, so students may have to walk farther or be driven to the designated stop in this scenario.”

On Sunday, January 9, the school district released their emergency plan, which states:

• Students with special needs who qualify for transportation as a related service will continue to ride their bus as usual. These routes will remain the same with the same pickup and drop-off times. These are routes 130, 133 and 134. Loftus Early Child- hood Center students are not affected by the changes in this plan.
• Students who do not ride a bus on morning routes, will not be eligible to ride home under this plan; families will need to arrange transportation home under this plan.
• Students who are too young to be dropped off without supervision (kindergarten and first grade) or who choose not to have their student walk home from the emergency plan bus stop should be at the designated stop at the time that their school dismisses.

You can view the emergency bus route location and pick-up/dropoff times, by clicking here.