School bus drivers must pass new physical fitness test

School bus drivers across the state will soon have to pass a physical fitness test to keep their certifications.

Starting Jan. 12, all school bus drivers will have to show they have the physical ability to do things like keep control of the bus in bad weather and swiftly evacuate children from the bus.

The final standards have yet to be published, but a draft copy gives a glimpse of what they're going to look for. Here are a few examples of what the drivers will be required to do.

• Walk completely around the bus and ascend and descend the steps three times in 75 seconds. You can't skip steps while going up or down, and you can't go down the steps backward.
• Move your foot from the brake to the accelerator 10 times in 10 seconds. Only the right foot may be used.
• Hold the brake pedal fully to the floor for one minute.
• Start in your seat with the seat belt on, walk to the back of the bus and open the emergency door in 20 seconds.

The new standards will apply to drivers of both yellow school buses and activity buses. Drivers can have as many retakes as you want. If drivers fail, their certification is suspended.

Drivers will have to pass the test for new certifications, to renew certification, and "if physical dexterity is called into question," says Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

CMS buses weren't smooth sailing for all on first day

Superintendent Heath Morrison and other CMS leaders proudly reported that there were no issues with transportation on the first day of classes this week, on what was a pretty smooth day overall.

But it seems like the "no issues" designation might depend on who you talk to. Parents reported a range of problems on the district's Facebook page earlier this week, and the last child wasn't delivered off the school bus until after 7:30 p.m. Yes, that's 20 minutes earlier than last year, but it's still pretty late.

The CMS Facebook page became a forum for complaints from parents whose kids were picked up or dropped off late Monday morning. To be sure, a few dozen or so complaints doesn't represent massive problems in a district of 140,000-plus, but it gives a flavor of some issues that arose.

One parent said her child waited on a broken down bus for an hour before she picked him up from school. Others reported delays from a half hour to more than an hour and a half.

The district's social media team advised the parents to give the transportation line a call.

I asked Carol Stamper, CMS director of transportation, about what "no issues" means in the context of the first day of school.

Here's what she said, via email: "It is unrealistic to think we would have no issues on the first day!  However, we do consider a successful first day in transportation being one that every student was delivered home safely….and that is what we accomplished!"

She said a number of things could result in a late bus, ranging from longer load times to make sure kids were on the right buses, to new students who weren't on the bus roster, to traffic congestion, to drivers getting used to their routes.

CMS projecting to have about 750 more students

It's T-minus 12 days until the start of school, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools leaders proclaimed at the school board meeting last night that they are ready.

They also presented a grab-bag of numbers and statistics regarding what they're expecting for the first day, and I thought I'd share them here.

More students coming. CMS is expecting to have 754 more students this year than it had at the 20th day of school last year. The vast majority is coming from high school students, which Deputy Superintendent Ann Clark attributed to keeping more students from dropping out and promoting more from 9th to 10th grade. Interestingly, they're projecting a decrease in enrollment in elementary school (albeit only by one student). They didn't address why this is, but my guess is it's because most charter schools target early grades.

More buses, too. CMS is projecting to add 27 buses to its fleet this year, bringing the total 1,020, even as the number of students they expect to ride them will fall a bit. The district says this is because of new academic programs at schools around the county.

Less out-of-school suspension. The district has made changes to the code of student conduct, and one emphasis is on keeping students in the school even when they're being disciplined.

Still looking for teachers. CMS has 421 teacher vacancies, though 266 of those already have a recommendation. Superintendent Heath Morrison said that having 155 teacher openings without recommendations is ahead of where the district was at this point last year. The largest number of vacancies, 59, are in elementary school.

PowerSchool should be ready. The portal parents use for updates should be functional this year after many malfunctions last year as CMS shifted to a new system.

CMS bus and bell report: How independent?

A consultant's report giving Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools mostly positive reviews on its recent decisions about busing and bell schedules is bound to revive questions about the source.

Some commenters have suggested all along that CMS is paying the Council of the Great City Schools up to $18,000 to get a foregone conclusion. Skeptics note that the council is a membership organization made up of about 65 large school districts,  including CMS,  and that Superintendent Heath Morrison is a member of the board's executive committee.  They say that hardly constitutes the independent review that Morrison and school board Chair Mary McCray touted when they announced the study this summer.

Casserly

During Monday's video conference with reporters,  Executive Director Michael Casserly was quick to note that the council is known for being tough on member districts that seek advice.  The council has done more than 250 reviews on various subjects,  he said,  and  "the vast majority of them have been extremely hard-hitting and critical."

One of those reports,  Morrison added,  was the organizational review of CMS he commissioned when he started this job in 2012.  That report cited several weak points,  including "illogical and inappropriate"  organizational structures,  "a lack of confidence or trust"  among citizens and employees,  and hiring processes that  "appear to be inadequate or ignored,  labor-intensive,  slow and cumbersome,  and subject to high error rates."

"That was a hard-hitting audit.  People were really shocked that I released that publicly,  but I had made a commitment to do that,"  Morrison said Monday.  "The quality of their work is second to none. You don't go to the Council of the Great City Schools asking them to lift you up and make you feel warm and happy about yourself."

Susan Plaza,  the parent who has been leading the push for change in bell schedules,  said Monday she's optimistic that Morrison is sincere about working with her group to come up with real solutions.  He's gearing up another task force to study school hours,  which will include members of Plaza's group and will meet publicly.

Interestingly,  Morrison's own two children experience opposite ends of the bell-schedule spectrum.  One attends South Meck High, with the traditional 7:15 to 2:15 high school schedule that some say is too early for teens to be fully alert for morning classes.  The other attends Northwest School of the Arts,  which is on the 9:15 to 4:15 late schedule,  which other families say squeezes out evening time for homework,  family and after-school activities.

When asked about his thoughts as a dad,  Morrison noted that he and CMS lawyer George Battle both have kids in late-bell schools.  "Both of us have said we actually like the late bell,"  Morrison said. But he said that doesn't mean he's dismissing concerns.  Instead,  he said,  he's aware that there are legitimate differences of opinion on all the bell questions,  and that's a big reason he wants to hold plenty of public discussions before making changes.

West Charlotte's segregation history makes Retro Report

A 10-minute documentary about the history of court-ordered desegregation and its reversal in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools -- specifically at West Charlotte High  --  went online today as part of the Retro Report, a new documentary news group created to give historic context to issues in the news.

Griffin

"The Battle for Busing"  uses archival news clips and interviews with participants,  especially former school board Chairman Arthur Griffin,  who experienced segregation and desegregation as a student.  As board chair,  Griffin led the court battle to keep race-based student assignment for diversity in place.  After losing that fight,  Griffin says in the documentary,  he decided not to seek election because "I was out of step."

"I said,  'I'll just step aside and I won't try to stop you and we'll see what happens,' "  says Griffin,  who is now an executive with McGraw-Hill Education.

What happened,  in terms of racial composition,  was that West Charlotte went from being viewed as a national model for desegregation  --  "a darling of the national media,"  as the report puts it  --  to reverting to its origins as a black high school. Although no one is assigned by race now,  last year 87 percent of West Charlotte students were black and 2 percent were white  (2013-14 numbers aren't in yet).

Retro Report was created with a grant from former television editor Christopher Buck;  read more about the nonprofit group that emerged here.  "Retro Report is there to pick up the story after everyone has moved on, connecting the dots from yesterday to today, correcting the record and providing a permanent living library where viewers can gain new insight into the events that shaped their lives,"  the introduction says.

The New York Times features Retro Report on its online  "Booming"  section,  designed to appeal to those of us born between 1946 and 1964.  

Couple featured in Booming (remember this look?)