In recent years, late morning bus arrivals have become more of a problem at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. Not only are late bus arrivals impacting attendance and education of students, but the teacher’s lessons as well.

When asked how this problem affects her, Senior Alicia Jurado said, “sometimes I feel overwhelmed…I already missed some parts of the lesson, and it’s harder to catch up if I don’t know what to do. So I tend to fall behind.” Falling behind on assignments may cause students’ grades to worsen, which could cause their stress and anxiety levels to increase. Another student who wants to remain anonymous said “My bus usually comes to school around 9:15, and it’s very annoying getting to class late. I hate it!”

Senior Jasmine Johnson said “It affects me because I hate waiting for the bus early in the morning when it’s cold outside in the winter. I swear I be 5 seconds away from catching hypothermia.” 

Teachers have to keep track of every student that’s coming late. Walking into class late causes interruption. Ms. Abigail Holtz, an English teacher,“I feel obligated to get students with late buses on track and catched up with the class. I agree that the buses are interfering with the student’s education. I give important class instructions at the beginning of class and the students who are late are missing out on that.”

Junior Nina Mcgranahan said that “there are times when my bus arrives at 9:20. My first period class is AP World History. When I miss class, I miss parts of lectures and notes that others don’t.”  It’s even harder to catch up in AP classes, where the lessons are fast paced.

Some teachers said there may be better solutions for the county. Ms. Holtz said that “PGCPS should check in with other school districts to see what their protocol is regarding the bus schedule. They should see if other districts are having the same problem as well. If not, what are they doing differently to avoid that problem?”

A bus driver who did not wish to be named stated, “traffic is a big issue and people have to understand that I have to pick up other kids as well and take them to their schools also. The most common routes have car accidents sometimes and if that’s the only route I can use, then there’s nothing I can do about it. The more bus drivers and buses we have, the less late buses they’ll be.”

At the time of this article, the PGCPS office of transportation did not respond to a request for an interview.