Sheldon, Iowa — A major source of discussion during Wednesday night’s meeting of the Sheldon Community School District Board of Education was the overwhelming demand for after school in-town busing of students.
You may recall that, shortly after the start of the current school year, the Sheldon District encouraged parents to have their children, whenever possible, walk or ride their bicycles to school, or have someone drop them off in the morning and pick them up at the end of the day. They further said that if parents chose to rely on school transportation for in-town bus stops, they were requested to have a backup plan in place, just in case their child was not able to utilize school transportation due to the bus being filled to capacity.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Superintendent Robin Spears explained to the Board that the capacity shortage existed, not because the District is short of buses, but that they have a shortage of drivers, and that is what’s causing the issue of too few available bus seats to meet the demand. The problem is made worse on days when there are after-school extra-curricular activities in other towns, which take one bus out of action in Sheldon to transport the extra-curricular students to and from their activities.
Superintendent Spears told the Board that Sheldon is not alone in facing such a problem. He related how, when traveling, he has seen parked school buses with signs attempting to recruit bus drivers.
The Board took no action on the matter, but intend to continue monitoring the situation. They also instructed Spears to poll the other Siouxland Conference schools to see what solutions they’re finding for the issue.
In other action, the Board approved the Open Enrollment applications of seven students. Four will be transferring into the Sheldon District from Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn, and three from Boyden-Hull.
They also approved the employment of four people for the Food Service Department at the high school, and one as a Custodian at the high school, as well as approving Chrissy DeKok as a Volunteer Coach for the High School Dance Team, as well as education service contracts for three students who receive educational services in other school districts or care facilities.
Wednesday night’s meeting was held in the high school library.
