Duval school district bus hotline enters busy final stretch as first day of school nears

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — This year 47,000 students are expected to ride a Duval County school bus.

Starting Monday, 850 of school buses will be out in the road, their only goal is to get those students to school and back home safely which is why the district is making sure all their drivers are trained on what to do if there's an emergency.

One Jacksonville mom we caught up with at a local Walmart is getting ready to see her two kids off to school on Monday.

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She's still debating whether to let her son ride the school bus alone. She said there are some things she'd like to see that'll help her feel more comfortable.

"More adults in there," she said. "Just to make sure the kids are behaving themselves."

Those are some of the same concerns other local parents are having too.

The school district gave Action News Jax access to its school bus call center where parents can call a hotline to get their most pressing questions answered.

The director of transportation, Erika Harding, said drivers are trained to know how to handle conflicts on board.

"The driver is to give verbal commands to the students to stop that kind of horse play, fight," said Harding.

But if that doesn't work, drivers can take it a step further.

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"We've asked them to pull over on the side of the road call dispatch and ask for assistance," said Harding.

"The bus drivers are not to get physically involved?" asked Lorena Inclán.

"We ask them not to but in certain instances you have to look and watch what's going on," said Harding.

To help with investigations, every school bus is equipped with surveillance cameras.

"Not only does the video assist in terms of being able to see what happened, sometimes the audio helps to be able to hear also what happened," said Harding.

Harding said sometimes they do have trouble with their surveillance equipment, for instance in some cases the devices may not record.

Action News Jax asked the district how often it maintains the system. A school district spokesperson said she's looking into that matter.

If you have any questions about your child's bus route you can call 904-381-RIDE until Aug. 23.

Cox Media Group